Monson Lake State Park

About this park

Monson Lake State Park was established in 1923 as a memorial to 13 Swedish immigrant settlers of the West Lake Settlement, members of the Broberg and Lundborg families, who were killed in one of the earliest engagements of the U.S.-Dakota War on August 20, 1862. Anna Stina Broberg, then just 16 years old, and her cousin Peter Broberg were the only two survivors of that attack; a marker within the park today indicates the former site of the Broberg family homestead, and the victims were later reburied in New London, Minnesota in 1891 beneath a state-funded monument. Despite nearly doubling in size through a 2009 expansion, Monson Lake remains one of Minnesota's smallest state parks at just 346 acres, with much of that acreage actually underwater across the three adjacent lakes of Monson, West Sunburg, and East Sunburg. The park sits within the Alexandria Glacial Moraine Complex, laid down by glaciers more than 30,000 years ago, and a short portage trail lets paddlers move between Monson Lake and West Sunburg Lake, whose water quality remains notably high. A district of 1930s Works Progress Administration rustic-style stone structures within the park is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, adding a layer of Depression-era craftsmanship to the site's deeper historical weight. Sitting on a major corridor of the Mississippi Flyway, the park draws birders hoping to spot white pelicans, western grebes, and herons alongside anglers working its lakes for walleye, northern pike, and bass, making Monson Lake a quiet, contemplative destination that pairs modest natural recreation with one of the state park system's more somber historical sites.