Scoville Park's Designer: Jens Jensen

Scoville Park's Designer: Jens Jensen. . Scoville Park was designed in 1913 by Jens Jensen, an influential landscape architect known for his use of native plants and naturalistic elements. Born in Denmark in 1860, Jensen was raised on his family's farm where he developed an early passion for the natural environment. He immigrated- to the United States in 1884 and settled in Chicago the following year., Jensen began as a laborer but soon after worked his way up the ranks of Chicago's West Park System to ultimately become its general superintendent. During this tenure Jensen first began to use and transplant native plants after traveling through Chicago's surrounding prairies. Whereas other contemporary gardens of his era featured exotic species, Jensen designed using the palette of our natural landscapes. He was motivated by a strong belief that access to parks and native landscapes was crucial to the health and welfare of everyone, even to those who chose to live in an urban area., Jensen developed his signature “Prairie style” based on the Midwestern landscape. He had a strong dislike for formal gardens and instead paid tribute to the characteristics of nature in his parks, showcasing indigenous plants in naturalesque settings. Jensen designed a number of other parks in Oak Park including Rehm, Ridgeland Common, Taylor, and Stevenson. The renovation of Scoville Park in 2012 was crafted in the spirit of Jensen's original design., Scoville Park, Scoville Park celebrated its centennial in 2012 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places by the United States Department of the Interior. For more information, please visit www.pdop.org.