Upper Sioux Agency State Park

Sioux Agency Township, US

Upper Sioux Agency (or Yellow Medicine Agency), was a federal administrative center in Minnesota established in response to treaties with the Dakota people in what became Yellow Medicine County. Located on the Minnesota River south of Granite Falls, Minnesota, the government-run campus of employee h

ousing, warehouses and a manual labor school was destroyed in the Dakota War of 1862. The grave of Chief Walking Iron Mazomani, a leader of the Wahpetonwan (Dwellers in the Leaves) Dakota tribes, who was killed during the 1862 Dakota War's Battle of Wood Lake, is here. The site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970 for having state-level significance under the themes of archaeology, architecture, education, and social history. Considered sacred for being a place where their ancestors died of starvation, the Upper Sioux Community has been working to regain the land since the 1860s. A ceremonial transfer was held in March with tribal officials, Governor Tim Walz and Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan. Established as a Minnesota state park in 1963, the park was closed in February 2024 as authorized by the state legislature. State Route 67, which traverses through the...

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