[1] They run for a half mile along Lake Michigan just to the south of Kenosha's Southport Park and are bounded on the west by 7th Avenue.

As lake water receded from the older Toleston Shoreline, wave and wind action accumulated sand in the current location of the Kenosha Dunes.

Eventually, larger trees such as black oaks, birch and cottonwood grew in the areas set back from the shoreline.

[2] After efforts to develop a model city along the lake fell through, the Wisconsin Electric Power Company bought 130 acres of sand dunes just south of Kenosha.

In 1993, Wisconsin Power donated the remaining 62 acres to the Nature Conservancy to create the Kenosha Sand Dunes.