PC Plaza Narrative

The Peace Corps Plaza  

Cornerstone of the National Service Park

450 3rd Street SW, Plainview, MN 55964

• Peace Corps will partner with other national organizations in the Park.  

• The PC Plaza will honor the service of individual Returned Peace Corps Volunteers, Affiliate organizations, and other significant Peace Corps contributors through a donated brick program. 

• Donated bricks will become the foundation of the PC Plaza, inscribed with the RPCV's name, city & state of origin, and the country & dates of service.  

• It's also a unique opportunity to personally memorialize volunteers who have died and recognize those volunteers who have served in more than one national volunteer organization (i.e., Peace Corps and Military, or Peace Corps and AmeriCorps).

• By extending an invitation to all RPCVs, regardless of where they served or currently reside, the Peace Corps Plaza promotes a sense of national inclusivity.

Location of the Peace Corps Plaza within the National Service Park

in America's Heartland

Unique local historical precedents for this location

• This small Midwestern town and area was the home of four pioneer Returned Peace Corps Volunteers from 1962-64 when the Peace Corps was first established, and the community has provided a dozen RPCVs over 50 years.

• One hundred years earlier, in 1862, another contingent of local young men joined the Union Army in 1864, and they played a significant role in the decisive battle that ended the Civil War to preserve the Union.

• The area is the boyhood home of former Secretary of State Frank B. Kellogg, author of the famous Kellogg-Briand Peace Pact to end all wars.  He is a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.

• Plainview represents a typical rural American town similar to the small villages worldwide where many Peace Corps Volunteers served.

• Minnesota Senator Hubert Humphrey was the first to propose the idea of a "peace corps" in 1957.

Geographical support of this location 

• Plainview is an exurb of Rochester, MN, which resides half-way between the East and West Coasts.

• Rochester is home of the world-renowned Mayo Clinic and is spending $5 billion to increase its profile as a global health and wellness hub.

• Rochester attracts over three million visitors a year from all 50 states and many foreign countries.

• One of the outcomes of this investment will be the completion of a state bike trail from central Rochester to the National Service Park.

• Plainview is in the beautiful tourist Hill Country and Mississippi River valley of southeastern Minnesota.

• There are three (3) additional multimillion dollar projects in the geographic area founded by RPCVs as community Peace Corps third goals projects.

  • • The Great River Ridge State Recreational Trail

    • renowned National Eagle Center

    • Internationally unique Marine Art Museum

Downtown Rochester, MN       The National Eagle Center in Wabasha         Mississippi River Valley at Lake Pepin