Saint Croix State Park in eastern Minnesota is the state’s largest park, stretching along the St. Croix and Kettle rivers across a landscape shaped by glacial meltwater and rich in varied habitats and wildlife. People have lived in this river valley for thousands of years, later including Dakota and Ojibwe communities as French traders entered the region. The area then became part of the logging frontier, followed by failed farming on poor sandy soils. Its modern character took shape after 1934, when New Deal programs restored the damaged land, built extensive public facilities, and began reforestation. That work survives in an exceptional collection of CCC and WPA structures, helping make the park both a major recreation area and a nationally recognized historic landscape.