Templar State Recreation Area

Templar State Recreation Area
Location of Templar State Recreation Area in Iowa Show map of Iowa Templar State Recreation Area (the United States) Show map of the United States
Location	Dickinson County, Iowa, United States
Nearest city	Orleans
Coordinates	43°27′24″N 95°07′04″W / 43.45667°N 95.11778°W / 43.45667; -95.11778
Area	10 acres (4.0 ha)
Governing body	Iowa Department of Natural Resources
Website	Templar State Recreation Area
Templar Park
Formerly listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Area	29 acres (12 ha)
Built	1918 (1918)
NRHP reference No.	77000511[1]
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	August 3, 1977
Removed from NRHP	September 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]