Iowa museum to open exhibition about Jens Jensen, the landscape architect who designed the Luther campus

Jensen's plan for the Luther campus

The German American Heritage Center in Davenport will open its new exhibit, "Land & Water," this Sunday--an exhibit that discusses what made the prairie landscape so special for our ancestors and for Jens Jensen--the man who designed the 1909 landscape plan for Luther College.

Jensen (1860-1951) organized and inspired the early conservation movements that led to the creation of the Cook County Forest Preserve District, the Illinois state park system, the Indiana Dunes State Park and National Lakeshore, among many more projects.

Everywhere he championed his core conviction: people must have some contact with the flowers and plants native to their home.

In 1909, he visited Luther College. The campus was in dire need of a landscape plan.   By all measures, Jens Jensen's Luther College campus in its final form was a masterpiece of American landscape design.

While the college got away from Jensen's vision in later years, recently it has begun returning to his master plan.

For more details about Jensen's vision of the Luther College campus landscape, visit http://www.luther.edu/campus/landscape/