Program

State Historical Society of Iowa

Subject

Science

Location

15137 M Ave, Randalia, IA 52164, USA

Lat/Long

42.851365157164, -91.845062644479

Grant Recipient

State Historical Society of Iowa

The landforms of Fayette County and much of northeast Iowa are known by geographers as the Iowan Surface. Among the characteristics of the region are boulders called glacial erratics, the largest being as big as 25’x30’x11’, while weighing over 2 million pounds! These boulders came from west-central Minnesota and were left by glaciers about 500,000 years ago. Fayette County has several of these large boulders.

“Stone Man” is a smaller glacial erratic uncovered by James Osborne in 1883. Osborne placed “Stone Man” to serve as an icon and a wayfinding marker for travelers utilizing the Mission Road, that was the first territorial road from Dubuque to Fort Atkinson. As automobiles became common, Stone Man was moved in 1929 from the middle of the road to the roadside by the Kil Kare Klub, a local women’s club. It was moved to this site in 1994.

Erected in 2021 in commemoration of Iowa’s 175th anniversary of statehood by
the Fayette County Conservation Board and the State Historical Society of Iowa
with funding from the William G. Pomeroy Foundation.