Story City: Museums, Parks and History

Story City brings together local history, parks, and activities on the water. If you’re looking for a hotel for a stay here, you can start planning your trip by deciding whether you want to focus on buildings, exhibits, and the area’s past, or on trails and time outdoors. Specific points of interest include a Queen Anne-style home, a historic waterworks, and a hand-carved carousel, as well as restored prairie, a bike trail, and a canoe access point on the Skunk River. This makes it easy to shape your trip around the subjects that interest you most.

History in Homes and Exhibits

The Bartlett House Museum is a Queen Anne-style home built in 1903. The Carriage House Museum features exhibits about pioneer life. The Story City Museum is housed in a restored historic waterworks; its exhibits cover businesses and services that were once located in the community’s Main Street District. These examples appeal to different interests: architecture and building history, pioneer life, or the community’s former business and service sector. The Story City Historical Society includes four museums.

Sheldall Schoolhouse was built of wood in 1860 by newly arrived Norwegian farmers, using timber cut along the Skunk River. Its year of construction, builders, and the origin of the wood are all part of its history. The Story City Antique Carousel in North Park is a hand-carved wooden carousel dating from 1913 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Story Theater Grand Opera House is also listed on the Register.

Parks, Trails, and Water

Story City’s parks are open daily from sunrise to sunset. Their features vary by trail type and landscape: Jacobson Park South has a paved bike trail, while Prairie Park offers a walking trail through restored prairie. South Park has a trail and river overlooks; the park also provides canoe access at the Skunk River dam. The options mentioned range from cycling and walking through the prairie to an activity on the water.

The South Skunk River Water Trail in Story City is 33 miles long and has 11 access points. Its length and number of access points provide different reference points for planning: the mileage indicates the water trail’s extent, while the number of access points describes its access network. This differs from the single canoe access point at the dam in South Park. When making your choice, you can distinguish between a specific park feature and the Water Trail’s route details.

Scandinavian Days in June

Scandinavian Days takes place on the first weekend in June. If you’d like to plan your stay around this date, check the specific event dates for the year in question.

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