Restorations on the "Garden of Eden" in Kansas Move Forward

SALINA JOURNAL NEWS
By Gary Demuth

KANSAS - Eighty years after Samuel Perry Dins-moor died, his body is getting a brush-up. Beginning in 1907, Dinsmoor, a 64-year-old Civil War veteran and former schoolteacher, built a series of concrete sculptures depicting his religious and political beliefs.  By the time of his death in 1932 at age 89, Dinsmoor had created more than 200 concrete sculptures on a lot in Lucas he named the Garden of Eden. These sculptures included a limestone house, 40-foot-tall concrete trees, animals, angels, devils, soldiers, American flags, the Goddess of Liberty and life-size depictions of Adam and Eve. Earlier this year, the property was sold to the Kohler Foundation, a philanthropic organization based in Kohler, Wis., that specializes in the preservation and restoration of folk architecture and art environments. Since May, art conservators from Kohler and area volunteers have been working to restore the garden to its original condition. [link]