Dinosaur Park (Rapid City)

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The Dinosaur Park in Rapid City, South Dakota, United States, was dedicated on May 22, 1936. Being an elaborate example of roadside tourist sculpture, it contains seven dinosaur sculptures on a hill overlooking the city to capitalize on the then new tourists coming to the Black Hills to see Mount Rushmore. Constructed by the city of Rapid City and the Works Progress Administration, WPA Project #960's dinosaurs were designed by Emmet Sullivan. Mr Sullivan also designed the Apatosaurus (formerly Brontosaurus) at Wall Drug nearby in Wall, South Dakota, the Christ of the Ozarks statue in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, and the dinosaurs at Dinosaur World in Beaver, Arkansas.

The dinosaurs are located at 940 Skyline Drive in a park maintained by the city of Rapid City. Admission is free, however steep flagstone stairs may limit handicapped accessibility. Dinosaurs represented include Apatosaurus, Tyrannosaurus rex, Triceratops, Stegosaurus, and an Anatotitan (formerly Trachodon). A Protoceratops and a Dimetrodon were added later (note: Dimetrodon is not actually a dinosaur). With the exception of the Protoceratops, the dinosaurs they selected were based on fossils found in South Dakota and the Western United States. The dinosaurs were constructed out of 2 inch black iron pipe, with a wire mesh frame and a concrete skin. Originally they were gray in color, but by the 1950's the statues were painted bright green with white undersides. Over the years, the Apatosaurus has been occasionally defaced with a white letter M, signifying the local college, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, SDSM&T. The park was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on June 21, 1990.