Pattison State Park

Pattison State Park is a 1,436-acre (581 ha) Wisconsin state park south of the city of Superior, Wisconsin. Pattison State Park is located on the Black River and contains Big Manitou Falls, the highest waterfall in Wisconsin at 165 feet (50 m). It also contains Little Manitou Falls, which is 30 feet (9.1 m). Pattison State Park was established in 1920.

History

Pattison State Park is named after Martin Pattison, an early lumber man and miner. In 1879 the company he was working with moved to Superior. After becoming wealthy in the iron mining business, he purchased an entire city block on the harbor where he built the 42-room Martin Pattison House, which is now the Fairlawn Mansion and Museum. In 1917 there was a plan to build a "power dam" on the Black River. The dam would have destroyed what is known as the Big Manitou Falls. Pattison took the initiative to save the falls by secretly buying land, 660 acres (270 ha) in total from different land owners along the river. In 1918 he donated the land to the state which led to Wisconsin dedicating its sixth state park to Martin Pattison on January 20, 1920. Until 1935 Pattison State Park consisted of a small picnic area, some wooden overlooks, pit toilets, and a ranger cabin. On July 25, 1935 the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) began renewing the park. The Corps quarried rock and chiseled it into blocks to create the park shelter building, nature center, bathhouse, and former office building. It also drained Interfalls Lake, rerouted the river channel, hauled sand from Lake Superior's shore to make the beach, installed sewer and water systems, removed old roadbeds, planted trees, and landscaped and built three miles of foot trails.

State park

State parks or provincial parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the sub-national level within those nations which use "state" or "province" as a political subdivision. State parks are typically established by a state to preserve a location on account of its natural beauty, historic interest, or recreational potential. There are state parks under the administration of the government of each U.S. state, and of some states of Mexico. The term is also used in Australia, though the distinction between state and national parks there is different. The Canadian equivalent term is provincial park. Similar systems of local government maintained parks exist in other countries, but the terminology varies.

State parks are thus similar to national parks, but under state rather than federal administration. Similarly, local government entities below state level may maintain parks, e.g., regional parks or county parks. In general, state parks are smaller than national parks, with a few exceptions such as the Adirondack Park in New York and Anza-Borrego Desert State Park in California.