Aztalan State Park 75th Anniversary

On October 20, 1928, almost 75 years ago, Aztalan was made into a park for the enjoyment and education of the people of Wisconsin. The local park created in October 1928 was called Mounds Park, and was focused on the standing mounds, especially those along Highway Q. Later, the park was expanded and made into a state park, but the state park is certainly based on that first Mounds Park.

Today, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) manages the much larger state park, and in the hopes of properly developing the site as a major interpretive location for Native American cultures, the DNR recently completed a major process of creating a new Master Plan for Aztalan. The plan took over a year to finish, and included the input of professional archaeologists, local residents, politicians, Native American tribes, and various other interested members of the public. The existence of this new plan does not guarantee that anything specific will happen, but it does chart the course of future site development. In order to bring some attention to Aztalan and to create a more dynamic park, we thought we would take advantage of the unique coincidence of the 75th anniversary of the park, and the Midwest Archaeological Conference being in Milwaukee October 16-19.

On Sunday, October 19, 2003, we will hold a celebratory event at Aztalan State Park at the close of the Midwest Archaeological Conference, from 1-3 PM. We will meet at the southernmost parking lot at the site (follow the park road to its end). Event sponsors include the Wisconsin DNR, the Milwaukee Public Museum, and Michigan State University Department of Anthropology. Activities will include:

• Pictures from the Milwaukee Public Museum archived from the time of the original park dedication, as well as from early excavations.
• A sampling of the artifacts found by Samuel A. Barrett in the early 1920's and 30's will be on display, courtesy of the Milwaukee Public Museum. Most of these artifacts have not been previously displayed.
• If you remember the park being dedicated, if you can recognize people in the pictures, or if you remember Barrett’s or other excavations, we’d like to record your reminiscences. Some of what you recall may help us better understand portions of the site.
• Site tours by archaeologists who have worked at Aztalan.
• Maps and plans of recent archaeological work at the site, with explanations and discussions of new findings.
• Master Plan maps and documents.
• An afternoon of enjoying the park and its past. Some refreshments will be available.