In the early 1870's, fourteen settlers purchased a beautiful spot on the north bank of the Big Cottonwood River and named it Jägers Ruhe, or Hunters' Rest. Their objectives were to preserve the property for their children and their children's children, preserve its natural beauty for posterity, and accommodate people who wanted to enjoy a day or an afternoon in the open away from everyday life. The owners of Hunters' Rest maintained the four and one-half acres until its sale to the Junior Pioneers of New Ulm and Vicinity in 1923. Formally organized on Sunday afternoon, February 25, 1912, at Turner Hall, the Junior Pioneers of New Ulm and Vicinity began developing plans for a pioneer home-coming during the fiftieth anniversary observance of the 1862 Dakota Uprising. The organization became an active social and benevolent society that sought to keep green the memory of the early pioneers who settled in this area, and after acquiring the park it continued the hunters club's objectives, with the exception of the hunters' weekly target practice, while Junior Pioneer Park lost none of its natural beauty in the intervening years.