Home of the Red Stone Pipe
Pipestone is located in extreme southwestern Minnesota and, as well as being renowned historically, today it is also a leader in wind technology with nearly 800 wind generators towering nearby. Less than a mile north of the city of Pipestone is the famous pipestone quarry, described in Native American legends as a “square-cut jewel lying upon folds of shimmering green velvet.” This is an accurate depiction of the red quartzite almost hidden by prairie grass. The quarry was designated a national monument by the United States in 1937 and is a “must see.” For thousands of years Native American Plains and Woodland Indian tribes—Ojibwa, Dakota, Oto, Pawnee, Sac Fox, Lakota—traveled great distances to the sacred pipestone quarries to use the stone in fashioning their ceremonial pipes. Pipestone’s historic downtown district has twenty beautiful Sioux Quartzite buildings erected from 1880 through 1900. All the buildings are listed on the National Registry for Historic Places. Pipestone is a prairie gem rich in fascinating things to do and see.