For thousands of years Native Americans lived in close harmony with nature on the tall grass prairie of this area. Many traveled great distances to the Pipestone Quarries where they used the soft pipestone stone to fashion ceremonial pipes and other items.

The first European to record a trip to the quarries was fur trader Philander Prescott in 1831. Noted artist and writer George Catlin visited the site in 1836. By sketching the site and collecting some of the legends surrounding it, he did much to make the quarries known around the world. Two years later cartographer Joseph N. Nicollet literally put the site on the map.

Although he never visited the site, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was inspired to write of the area in his well known poem, "Song of Hiawatha."

The city of Pipestone was founded in 1876 by Charles Bennett and Daniel Sweet. Bennett was intrigued by the prospect of visiting the site he had read about in Longfellow's poem. Despite blizzards, prairie fires, droughts and grasshoppers, the young village survived. In 1879, 22 businesses were operating in Pipestone, and by the following year that number had grown to 53. Pipestone was incorporated as a village in 1881 and for the next 20 years was a real "boom town." By 1890 Pipestone had a train service on four different rail lines and had become a major travel and business center.

A legacy of that period is the Pipestone Historic District. Skilled stone masons constructed the buildings in the district of locally quarried Sioux Quartzite stone. The people of Pipestone are proud of this legacy and welcome visitors who wish to share in the enjoyment.

 

Top photo: Pipestone County Courthouse - Built in 1904
Middle photo: Pipestone County Museum - Former city hall, built in 1896
Bottom photo: Gargoyle crafted by a skilled stonemason.