Pioneer Park

Pioneer Park. . Originally owned by Jacob Olson Dahl, who was issued a land patent for eighty acres in 1884, the land that became Pioneer Park was the home of the Brookings County Fair from 1907 until 1922. The city purchased the land for $10,000 in 1923 and for a time it was the site of the school's football field. The park has been home to the Brookings Summer Arts Festival, which draws huge crowds each year, since 1972., In June of 1924, the park board retained Charles Ramsdell, a Minneapolis landscape architect, to design Pioneer Park. The park's impressive Art Deco bandshell was built in 1936 by C.M. Fassett with funding from the Works Progress Administration (WPA). Lincoln, Nebraska architect Albert Pugsley, son of SDSU President Charles W. Pugsley, designed the bandshell. The Art Deco style, characterized by stucco, zigzag chevrons, and geometric motifs, is typical of the time period and WPA projects. The concrete bandshell's spherical shape sheltered the band and directed the music toward the audience. During the Great Depression, social and recreational activities in the park and bandshell helped boost morale for Brookings and area citizens. The bandshell continues to be used for weekly band concerts during the summer., Captions: , Art Deco motif keystone located at the top of the bandshell., Left: Pioneer Park Bandshell. , Above: Entrance to Pioneer Park dated 1929.