William Lyon was born and grew up in Vermillion, SD. His widow Winona Lyon donated the land containing the beautiful palisades to the state of South Dakota. Additional land will be added to the park during the summer of 2024, doubling the size of the park.
Palisades State Park is one of the most unique areas in South Dakota. Split Rock Creek, which flows through the park, is lined with Sioux quartzite formations varying from shelves several feet above the water to 50-foot vertical cliffs.
The description of the park is from State Parks web site, https://gfp.sd.gov/parks/detail/palisades-state-park/ (accessed 11/12/2022).
The Archives and Special Collections has the William H. Lyon papers.
The postcard is from South Dakota postal cards. A collection of cards of early South Dakota, Chilson Collection, University of South Dakota, F656 .S63x. This collection has about 150 postcards showing towns, buildings, tourist spots and scenery, animals, trains, boats, agricultural activities, pasque petals, etc.
Archives and Special Collections Blog 