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Photograph of Lemmon Petrified Park
Photograph by Matt Lemmon ( mattlemmon ), CC BY-SA 2.0. Via Wikimedia Commons.

Lemmon Petrified Park

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.

From the record

“The Lemmon Petrified Wood Park & Museum is a roadside attraction located off U.S. 12 in Lemmon, South Dakota, which features large outdoor sculptures created out of Mesozoic petrified wood. It was created in 1933 by Ole Quammen, a former mayor of Lemmon.”

Wikipedia article Lemmon Petrified Wood Park & Museum, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 19 National Register listings published here for Perkins County · listed in 1977 · category: Site.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

  • What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 3 buildingss, 1 structure as contributing to the listing.
  • Address. Off U.S. 12, Lemmon, 57638
  • When was it listed? November 1977
  • Category. site
  • City. Lemmon city
  • National Register reference number. 77001254 - assigned by the National Park Service when the property was listed.

Fires near this property

37 since 2000

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 37 fires within 5 miles of Lemmon Petrified Park between 2000 and 2020, burning about 3,962 acres in total. 4 started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined17
Equipment and vehicle use11
Debris and open burning5
Natural4

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
20 September 2019Naturalunder an acreSouth Dakota Wildland Fire SuppressionA BALE
17 September 2009Equipment and vehicle use2.0 acresSouth Dakota Wildland Fire Suppressionnot named
17 September 2000Natural3,500 acresIsabel Volunteer Fire DepartmentLADUE/ WESINGER
1 September 2012Missing data/not specified/undetermined5.0 acresSouth Dakota Wildland Fire SuppressionFREY 2
16 August 2010Equipment and vehicle use1.0 acresSouth Dakota Wildland Fire SuppressionAIRPORT ROAD
12 August 2010Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresSouth Dakota Wildland Fire SuppressionS BALE
7 July 2017Equipment and vehicle use3.3 acresSouth Dakota Wildland Fire SuppressionFINNS 1
4 July 2017Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreSouth Dakota Wildland Fire SuppressionHAY 4

Every fire recorded in Perkins County

Mines and quarries near this property

1 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Lemmon Petrified Park: 1 producer. All of them still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Bartell PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer

Every working recorded in Perkins County

Storms near this property

60 of 61 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Lemmon, the town this property stands in, in 61 storm reports between 1994 and 2025: 31 thunderstorm wind, 27 hail, 2 tornado, 1 funnel cloud. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
July 2009HailLemmon$1,500,000Baseball sized hail and strong wind gusts broke windows and damaged roofs and automobiles in Lemmon.
June 2010Thunderstorm WindLemmon$750,000Straight-line thunderstorm wind gusts were estimated at 75 to 85 mph. Several buildings roofs partially torn off and trees were uprooted from southwest of Lemmon along the south edge of town to east of Lemmon.
August 1999Thunderstorm WindLemmon$500,000no account filed
May 2013HailLemmon$300,000Hail damaged vehicles and homes in Lemmon.
July 1998Thunderstorm WindLemmon$200,000DAMAGE OCCURRED TO THE KOLB AIR SPRAYING SERVICE. TOTALED WERE TWO AIRPLANES AND A HANGER, WITH ANOTHER AIRPLANE SEVERLY DAMAGED. IN ADDITION TREES WERE UPROOTED AND THE STORM SUCKED THE WATER OUT OF A STOCK DAM 5 NW.
May 1996Thunderstorm WindLemmon$150,000no account filed
July 2009Thunderstorm WindLemmon$100,000Wind gusts downed large tree branches and power lines and blew over sheds and trailers.
May 2013HailLemmon$50,000no account filed
August 2003Thunderstorm WindLemmon$50,000no account filed
July 2011Thunderstorm WindLemmon$10,000Police officers reported branches six to eight inches in diameter were blown down.
July 2005Thunderstorm WindLemmon$2,000Wind driven hail broke windows of 2 automobiles.
June 2025Thunderstorm WindLemmon-SD mesonet recorded wind gust.
June 2023Tornado (EF0)Lemmon-A tornado briefly developed southeast of Lemmon. No damage was reported.
July 2021Thunderstorm WindLemmon-Wind gusts were estimated at 60 mph.
August 2010Thunderstorm WindLemmon-Wind gusts of 60 mph occurred in Lemmon.
July 2009HailLemmon-Quarter sized hail fell from Lemmon to Shadehill.
June 2001HailLemmon-One inch hail was reported in the town of Lemmon, with two inch hail just south of town.
July 1995Thunderstorm WindLemmon-Winds in excess of 60 mph were reported by Radio KBJM. Many trees were downed and caused some property damage.
September 2023Thunderstorm WindLemmon-no account filed
July 2021HailLemmon-no account filed
July 2020Thunderstorm WindLemmon-no account filed
July 2020Thunderstorm WindLemmon-no account filed
August 2020Thunderstorm WindLemmon-no account filed
June 2020Thunderstorm WindLemmon-no account filed
June 2020HailLemmon-no account filed
August 2016Thunderstorm WindLemmon-no account filed
August 2016HailLemmon-no account filed
August 2014HailLemmon-no account filed
August 2014HailLemmon-no account filed
May 2013HailLemmon-no account filed
July 2013HailLemmon-no account filed
June 2013HailLemmon-no account filed
June 2013HailLemmon-no account filed
June 2013Thunderstorm WindLemmon-no account filed
July 2011HailLemmon-no account filed
July 2011Thunderstorm WindLemmon-no account filed
July 2011Thunderstorm WindLemmon-no account filed
June 2010Thunderstorm WindLemmon-no account filed
August 2010Thunderstorm WindLemmon-no account filed
August 2010Thunderstorm WindLemmon-no account filed
September 2009HailLemmon-no account filed
September 2009HailLemmon-no account filed
June 2008HailLemmon-no account filed
July 2008HailLemmon-no account filed
July 2008HailLemmon-no account filed
July 2008HailLemmon-no account filed
July 2008Thunderstorm WindLemmon-no account filed
May 2007Thunderstorm WindLemmon-no account filed
July 2007Thunderstorm WindLemmon-no account filed
June 2005HailLemmon-no account filed
July 2005HailLemmon-no account filed
July 2005Thunderstorm WindLemmon-no account filed
June 2002Thunderstorm WindLemmon-no account filed
July 2001Funnel CloudLemmon-no account filed
July 2001HailLemmon-no account filed
July 2001Thunderstorm WindLemmon-no account filed
August 1999HailLemmon-no account filed
June 1999HailLemmon-no account filed
August 1999HailLemmon-no account filed
May 1996Tornado (F0)Lemmon-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Perkins County

Map coverage status

No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.

Listed places nearby

4 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Photograph PropertyDistance Listed
Golden Rule Department Store0.3 miles1976
G. E. Lemmon House0.5 miles1976
Ole Quamman House0.6 miles2015
L. F. Harriman House0.7 miles1976

Sources for this property

National Archives recordThe nomination case file for reference 77001254 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia articleCommunity-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Perkins CountyAll 19 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

  • Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
  • Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
  • How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
  • Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
  • Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
  • Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.