Considered by many preservationists to be one of the top art environments in the world, Samuel P. Dinsmoor’s Garden of Eden was Kohler Foundation’s largest preservation project to date. 

Dinsmoor (1843-1932), a retired school teacher, Civil War veteran, farmer, and Populist Politician, began building the Garden of Eden and Cabin Home in 1907 at the age of 64. He fashioned 113 tons of cement and many tons of limestone into his eleven-room limestone “log” cabin home and the 150 surrounding sculptures. The sculptures and design of the house reflect Dinsmoor's belief in the Populist movement and his religious convictions. The Garden of Eden is located in Lucas, Kansas, a community of less than 500 people, but the Garden of Eden attracts over 10,000 people a year. 

Intensive art conservation treatment was required to repair and bring the Garden of Eden back to the condition S.P. Dinsmoor intended. Two art conservators from International Artifacts of Pearland, Texas with a rotating staff of 4-6 technical assistants worked daily over a five-month period to complete their treatment. 

The site has been gifted to the Friends of S.P. Dinsmoor’s Garden of Eden in Lucas, Kansas. They will steward the site into the future. The Garden of Eden is open to the public and is on the National Register of Historic Places.

For more information visit their website at http://www.gardenofedenlucas.org/ or phone 785-525-6395.