The Best of Yesterday and Today
Located in the cornerstone of the state, Rock County, Luverne is a thriving community offering the sights and sounds of Minnesota’s prairie-land life. In 1867, while the first mail route was being mapped by Philo Hawes from Blue Earth, Minnesota, to Yankton, South Dakota, a stable large enough to hold six horses was built on the site where Luverne’s present-day Public Works Department building rests. Hawes named the site, Luverne, after his daughter. On October 2, 1876, the first passenger train arrived in the village of Luverne and, shortly afterwards, brought visitors to see what later became known as Blue Mounds State Park, named after a 100-foot-tall linear cliff of Precambrian Sioux Quartzite bedrock which, although pink in color, is said to have appeared bluish in the distance to early settlers. Today, Luverne offers visitors a chance to reconnect to the times of the early settlers and the history of the great bison—the animal that once roamed freely upon Minnesota’s prairies—at Prairie Heights Bison Ranch. Whether you enjoy the cultural experience of live theatre at the historic Palace Theatre or meandering through specialty stores, Luverne has sites of interest for everyone!