Stearns History Museum, County Parks Host “Hiking Through History” Walk at Quarry Park Thursday

(KNSI) – The Stearns History Museum and Stearns County Parks Department will host a guided hike at Quarry Park and Nature Preserve Thursday, July 9th, as part of their “Hiking Through History” summer series.

The hike begins at 5:30 p.m. at the park, located at 1802 County Road 137 in Waite Park. It will run about one hour and cover between one and 1.5 miles of trail. Organizers describe the pace as gentle, though they recommend wearing walking shoes.

Participants will learn about the park’s natural features and ecosystems, along with its history as a working granite quarry.
Quarry Park and Nature Preserve spans 757 acres, making it the largest park in the Stearns County Parks system. The park includes woodlands, open prairie, wetlands, and unquarried bedrock areas, along with swimming quarries and exhibits on the region’s granite industry. More than 20 former granite quarries remain within the park, surrounded by quarried rock remnants.

The site, once known as “Hundred Acres Quarry,” has roots in an industry that shaped Central Minnesota for more than a century. The first granite quarry in the region opened in 1863, and by the early 1900s, Saint Cloud Red Granite quarried from the site was being used in buildings including the Landmark Center and the James J. Hill House in St. Paul.

Several companies, including Holes Bros, Delano Granite, Melrose Granite Co, Empire Quarry Co, and C. L. Atwood, operated quarries on the property before operations ceased in the mid-1950s. Private ownership continued until 1992, when Stearns County purchased the land from Cold Spring Granite Company. The park officially opened on January 1st, 1998, and by 2002, the county had added 323 acres to establish an adjoining Scientific and Natural Area.

Two more hikes remain on the schedule: Warner Park on Thursday, August 13th, and Rockville County Park on Thursday, September 10th, both starting at 5:30 p.m.

All hikes are free and open to the public.

For more information, contact the Stearns History Museum at 320-253-8424 or info@stearns-museum.org.

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