Templar State Recreation Area

State recreation area in Iowa, United States

43°27′24″N 95°07′04″W / 43.45667°N 95.11778°W / 43.45667; -95.11778Area10 acres (4.0 ha)Governing bodyIowa Department of Natural ResourcesWebsiteTemplar State Recreation Area

Templar Park

Formerly listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places

Area29 acres (12 ha)Built1918 (1918)NRHP reference No.77000511^[1]Significant datesAdded to NRHPAugust 3, 1977Removed from NRHPSeptember 13, 2006

Templar State Recreation Area is a 10-acre (4.0 ha) state recreation area in Dickinson County, Iowa, United States, near the city of Orleans. The recreation area is located on the western shore of Big Spirit Lake, the largest of the Iowa Great Lakes, and is one of several state parks and recreation areas in the Great Lakes region. Its amenities include a boat ramp, fishing areas, and picnic buildings; the boat ramp is on a lagoon, which shelters boaters from winds on the lake.^[2]

Before the state acquired the land, the park was known as Templar Park and was owned and operated by the Knights Templar. The knights built a hotel on the property for members and their families in 1890 and replaced it with a new hotel after it burned down in 1917. In addition to being a vacation spot, the hotel hosted the Grand Conclave, the annual meeting of Iowa's chapter of the knights. Although the park was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977, it was sold the following year and the hotel was subsequently demolished.^[3]

References

^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. November 2, 2013.
^ "Iowa Great Lakes - State Parks and Recreation Areas". Iowa Department of Natural Resources. Retrieved February 16, 2022.
^ Arnold, Vinton (May 26, 1978). "Templar Park building sold; could be razed". Sioux City Journal. p. A3. Retrieved February 16, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.

Protected areas of Iowa

Federal

National monument	Effigy Mounds
National Historic Site	Herbert Hoover
National Wildlife Refuges	DeSoto Driftless Area Neal Smith Northern Tallgrass Prairie Port Louisa Union Slough Upper Mississippi River

State

State Parks	Ambrose A. Call Backbone Badger Creek Banner Lakes at Summerset Beeds Lake Bellevue Big Creek Black Hawk Brushy Creek Cedar Rock Clear Lake Dolliver Memorial Elk Rock Elinor Bedell Emerson Bay Fairport Fort Defiance Geode George Wyth Memorial Green Valley Gull Point Honey Creek Lacey-Keosauqua Lake Ahquabi Lake Anita Lake Darling Lake Keomah Lake Macbride Lake Manawa Lake of Three Fires Lake Wapello Ledges Lewis and Clark Lower Gar Maquoketa Caves Marble Beach McIntosh Woods Mines of Spain & E.B. Lyons Mini-Wakan Nine Eagles Okamanpedan Palisades-Kepler Pikes Peak Pikes Point Pilot Knob Pillsbury Point Pine Lake Pleasant Creek Prairie Rose Preparation Canyon Red Haw Rice Lake Rock Creek Springbrook Stone Templar Trapper's Bay Twin Lakes Union Grove Viking Lake Volga River Walnut Woods Wapsipinicon Waubonsie Wildcat Den Wilson Island
State Forests	Backbone Barkley Gifford Holst Loess Hills Pilot Mound Shimek Stephens White Pine Hollow Yellow River
State Preserves	A.F. Miller Ames High Prairie Anderson Prairie Behrens Pond and Woodlands Berry Woods Bird Hill Bixby Bluffton Fir Stand Brush Creek Canyon Brushy Creek Cameron Woods Casey's Paha Catfish Creek Cayler Prairie Cedar Bluffs Cedar Hills Sand Prairie Cheever Lake Clay Prairie Claybanks Forest Cold Water Spring Crossman Prairie Decorah Ice Cave Dinesen Prairie Doolittle Prairie Fallen Rock Fish Farm Mounds Five Ridge Prairie Fleming Woods Fort Atkinson Freda Haffner Kettlehole Gitchie Manitou Hanging Bog Hardin City Woodland Hartley Fort Hayden Prairie Hoffman Prairie Indian Bluffs Primitive Area Indian Fish Trap Iowa's State Preserves System Kalsow Kish-Ke-Kosh Prairie Lamson Woods Liska-Stanek Prairie Little Maquoketa Malanaphy Springs Malchow Mounds Manikowski Prairie Mann Wilderness Area Marietta Sand Prairie Mericle Woods Merrill A. Stainbrook Merritt Forest Montauk Mossy Glen Mount Pisgah Cemetery Mount Talbot Nestor Stiles Prairie Ocheyedan Mound Old State Quarry Palisades-Downs Pecan Grove Pellett Woods Pilot Grove Pilot Knob Retz Woods Roberts Creek Rock Creek Island Rock Island Roggman Boreal Slopes Rolling Thunder Prairie Saint James Lutheran Church Savage Woods Searryl's Cave Sheeder Prairie Silver Lake Fen Silvers-Smith Woods Slinde Mounds Starr's Cave Steele Prairie Stinson Prairie Strasser Woods Sylvan Runkel Toolesboro Mounds Turin Loess Hills Turkey River Mounds White Pine Hollow Williams Prairie Wittrock Indian Village Woodland Mounds Woodman Hollow Woodthrush

County

State Parks (Leased)	Bobwhite Cold Springs Crystal Lake Eagle Lake Echo Valley Frank A. Gotch Heery Woods Lake Cornelia Lake Icaria Kearny Margo Frankel Mill Creek Oak Grove Oakland Mills Pammel Sharon Bluffs Spring Lake Swan Lake Three Mile Lake