Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index Itasca State Park is a state park in Minnesota, 21 miles north of Park Rapids, Minnesota and 30 miles from Bemidji, Minnesota. The park contains Lake Itasca, the source of the Mississippi River. That Itasca is the river's source was discovered by Henry Schoolcraft in 1832. Itasca State Park was established by the Minnesota State Legislature on April 20, 1891, the first of Minnesota's State Parks. The park was later enlarged and now covers 32,000 acres and includes more than 100 lakes. Itasca State Park was visited by 481,508 visitors in 2000. This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.