Winneshiek County Development and Tourism donates $1,000 to the Dam Gate Project

Winneshiek County Development and Tourism is contributing $1,000 to the Winneshiek County Historic Preservation Commission to help pay for the costs of the Dam Gate Outdoor Industrial Sculpture Exhibit at Trout Run Park off Highway 9 in Decorah.

The project will install the last remaining dam gate from historic Lower Dam and create an interpretive marker for public education.

In January, the Iowa DNR contacted the Winneshiek County Historic Preservation Commission, asking the group to help preserve the last dam gate from the Upper Iowa River Lower Dam site. This early hydroelectric dam provided energy to numerous communities in Northeast Iowa. The Winneshiek County Historic Preservation Commission agreed to work on the project, and is now collaborating with Decorah Parks and Recreation, Iowa Department of Natural Resources, and Winneshiek County Historical Society in creating an outdoor industrial sculpture exhibit at Trout Run Park in Decorah.  The exhibit, when completed, will tell the story of the significance of small community-driven hydropower dams that once dotted the rural landscape of Northeast Iowa.