Dinosaur Park - Dinosaurs On Display

Dinosaurs On Display

Dinosaurs represented in the park include Apatosaurus, Tyrannosaurus rex, Triceratops, Stegosaurus, and an Anatotitan (formerly Trachodon). A Protoceratops and a Dimetrodon (Dimetrodon is not actually a dinosaur) were added later on and are located near the gift shop and parking lot. With the exception of the Protoceratops, the dinosaurs they selected were based on fossils found in South Dakota and the Western United States.

The dinosaurs were constructed out of 2 inch black iron pipe, with a wire mesh frame and a concrete skin. Originally they were gray in color, but by the 1950s the statues were painted bright green with white undersides. Being constructed in the 1930s, the dinosaurs reflect the thinking of the times (i.e.:dragging tails). The tyrannosaur's original finger claws (of which it incorrectly had three on each hand) as well as its teeth have been lost or damaged over the years to where its hands are stumps and its teeth are all but gone. Vintage postcards of the T. rex do in fact show these were originally part of the sculpture. The Stegosaurus also had a shorter tail with 4 correct tail spikes, but this has changed recently where the tail spikes have been removed (perhaps due to safety concerns) and the tail considerably lengthened.