Dinosaur Park | This is Rapid City

Chuck McLain and Pat Roseland give insight into the who, what, where, why, and when of Rapid City's beloved Dinosaur Park. Learn some of the history behind the park and what changes are coming to better suit families for generations to come. See why Dinosaur Park is loved by locals and visitors alike.
Dinosaur Park: www.visitrapidcity.com/things...
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Video Transcript:
The why question of why dinosaur park is here is an important question. It's one we get almost every day at the visitor center.
Mount Rushmore was about halfway completed when the Rapid City Chamber came up with the idea of dinosaurs being a part of the park.
The Chamber of Commerce was seeing a lot of new travel to the Black Hills because of Mount Rushmore and the idea of spinning off on some of that travel made sense.
Initially, it was during the 30s with depression and all that and the government had the make work project with the WPA grant a lot all over the country they're trying to find work to pay people who are, who needed work and this project, the WPA was the initiator of that project and then they just basically initiated a talk with Emmet Sullivan who was kind of a... he liked himself a lot he knew he could do it no matter what.
He was given 25,000 dollars and had 15 months to get it done. So all that was done in 15 months believe it or not
and it was open before Mount Rushmore was done.
That construction took place between 1936 and 1938 when Emmet Sullivan finally after a little bit of a dispute with the WPA, put the teeth in the t-rex.
Now the construction is very interesting in that two-inch iron pipe is set in each one of the dinosaurs and that pipe serves as a foundation into the concrete but also the structure of the dinosaurs.
The framing work that he did with the dinosaurs you know, trawling on the concrete that was his idea. It wasn't done before at all. He's the one that thought it up and did it and obviously it worked very well and after all this time it's still there.
The enhancements to Dinosaur Park are going to be fantastic for the traveler the visitor to the park.
Primarily having a trail that is ADA compliant that is paved coming up the hill will be of great benefit to young families. Having areas on the trail where a person can stop, rest, sit on a bench or go to a picnic area will be also wonderful.
Once you get up here the view is fantastic, it gives you an opportunity for a 360 view of the area and to the east on a clear day you can pick out some of the Badlands.
To the west, you see a panoramic view of the Black Hills
I remember going there as a kid a lot because my folks, we lived in Faith & Dupree at the time and every summer we'd come to Black Hills and Dinosaur Park was always one of the things we went to. We crawled over just like every other kid does today that was 60-70 years ago.
You know I've got some very very fond memories of dinosaur park as a child. I have memories of my grandparents bringing me up to the park and it was always a treat, because I can remember getting out of the car and thinking how fast can I get to the top of that hill. And I can look across to the east here and I can see where they lived.
There's something about dinosaur park with a generational return. We see it every day.
You know that park has been putting smiles on kids faces for many many many years and just this last summer my son and his children came up from Virginia and I took them up to dinosaur park and they loved it. So I think that's pretty impressive of how one little park in that small little town in South Dakota can be so important to people's lives who live all around the United States.
To me it's you know they've been there for 84 years plus and kind of have a good view of Rapid City and people love them and hopefully they'll stay there for quite a while.

[@raultercero6281]

Thanks to owl city now i know this place! Hope to visit it someday

[@VisitRapidCity]

Glad the Owl City song shared our city with you and we look forward to your visit!

[@chrismilana1144]

We will be there this summer. Is the park handicapped accessible?

[@VisitRapidCity]

How exciting! You'll have a wonderful time! The park isn't at this time, but it is a project they are starting on. The video talks about some of the upcoming enhancements at about 2:48.

[@VisitRapidCity]

@chrismilana they are nearing completion on this project, but Dinosaur Park is back open and handicapped accessible now!

[@chrismilana1144]

@@VisitRapidCity I guess better late then never. We had a wonderful time as tourist in South Dakota. It is a beautiful State with lots to do and see. We will be back again soon. Looking forward to visiting Dinosaur Park.