Ingvald Skorgen
1876–1951
Little is known about Ingvald Skorgen, and the vast majority of information at hand was collected by his great-niece for a family history. Ingvald Skorgen was born on a farm at Skorgedalen, Norway, in 1876. Just three years later, the family immigrated to the South Fork Valley in southeastern Minnesota. Skorgen never left his family’s homestead, living with his stepmother until her death in 1949. He enjoyed hunting, fishing, and playing the violin at town dances and meetings until his death in 1951.
Inspired by the grottoes that dot the Midwest—namely the Dickeyville Grotto on the Holy Ghost Grounds in Dickeyville, Wisconsin—Skorgen began building a concrete sculpture park on his family’s property in the 1930s.
After his death, the park was dismantled and the various components spread among family members.
