Steen Eiler Rasmussen

Steen Eiler Rasmussen was a Danish architect and urban planner who created a distinctive American design aesthetic, the Prairie Style, and a network of parks and conservation areas in the Midwest. He immigrated to the United States in 1884 and settled in Chicago, where he worked for the West Park Commission. He designed and planted many gardens using native plants and natural features, such as the American Garden in Union Park. He became the superintendent of Humboldt Park and later the general superintendent of the entire West Park System. He also helped establish the Cook County Forest Preserve, the most extensive system of nature parks instituted by any U.S. city or metropolitan area. He designed many public and private landscapes, such as the Ravinia Music Festival grounds, the Henry Ford Estate, the Edsel and Eleanor Ford House, and the Gaukler Pointe. He also played a role in building support for the preservation of part of the Indiana Dunes sand dune ecosystem. He was a pioneer of ecological design and a leader of the Prairie School of landscape architecture. He died in 1951 at his art colony, The Clearing, in Wisconsin. ¹²³