Roads have brought people to Park Rapids for centuries. The earliest roads in the area were pathways and trails, created and used by indigenous inhabitants of this place. Fur traders and missionaries used the same trails, giving old roads new names. The first formal road in the area was the government road following the Leech Lake–Crow Wing trail to White Earth.

With the rise of the automobile, Park Rapids became connected to the outside world in a new way. The town was connected to the Minnesota highway network by 1913. Early in 1916, the Park Rapids Commercial Club met with the state highway department, hoping to be included on the Jefferson Highway.

The Jefferson Highway was established in 1915 to build a highway from New Orleans, Louisiana, to Winnipeg, Manitoba. Informally dubbed the Palm to Pine Highway, it was hoped that this formalized route would be economically beneficial, especially to rural communities along the road. The highway was the first north-south intercontinental highway in the United States. Rather than being one highway, like a modern interstate, the Jefferson Highway was made up of existing roads and trails marked with special signage.

Park Rapids lobbied fiercely for inclusion on the highway and were successful. The Jefferson Highway, a section of what is now U.S. Highway 71, took cruising motorists right through the center of Park Rapids. While the Jefferson Highway program was later overtaken by more standardized road numbering, it was a tremendous boost to early automobile tourism and helped put Park Rapids on the map.

200 Main Avenue South
Park Rapids, MN 56470

Open Site Location on Google Maps
46.921037400567, -95.059543475174