Minnesota River Valley Scenic Byway
Lower Sioux Agency History Center, MN

This is the site of one of two agencies built by the federal government to house government employees on the reservation set up for the Dakota People so that they would learn farming practices. An original stone warehouse remains standing. An interpretive center tells the story of the history of the agency site and the nearby Redwood Ferry Ambush site.

In 1852, a reservation along the Minnesota River was just four percent of the land the Dakota previously inhabited. Some Dakota adapted to white agricultural practices. However, crops failed in 1861 and by the summer of 1862 families were starving. The Agency distributed the money, food and supplies for which the Dakota had sold their land. However, the agent refused to give out their food payments. By mid-August the Dakota could wait no longer. They attacked the Agency, destroying buildings and taking food for their families.

Explore the history and culture of the Dakota, learn how government employees and missionaries sought to change their traditional way of life at the agency, and discover the roots of the US/Dakota Conflict of 1862 in the visitor center exhibit. Outdoors, investigate the original 1861 agency warehouse and three miles of trails with interpretive signs telling of the agency's story.