b. 1843 d. 1907
Site Affiliation: S.P. Dinsmoor’s Cabin Home and Garden of Eden
S.P. Dinsmoor was the creator of internationally renowned artist-built environment The Garden of Eden, the second such site placed on the National Register of Historic Places. He was a Populist, a contrarian, a farmer, and a Civil War Veteran. Born in Coolville, Ohio, Dinsmoor witnessed the Battle of Gettysburg and the surrender of General Lee during his military service. He taught school in Illinois before moving to Lucas in 1888 with his first wife, Francis. By 1905, Dinsmoor had retired and moved
from his farm on the outskirts of town into Lucas proper, where he began construction of a limestone ‘log’ cabin. He then proceeded to surround the house and fill the grounds with allegorical narrative sculptures illustrating his beliefs, creating a tourist attraction that catalyzed Lucas’ creative community
development. Dinsmoor was buried on-site in a Masonic funeral in 1932, laid to rest in a concrete casket, placed in a limestone mausoleum of his own construction.
Primary Medium: Sculpture
Primary Stylistic Term: Artist-Built Environment, Political Art, Masonic Symbolism, Monuments &
Memorials
Fun Fact: Dinsmoor’s work was written up in numerous trade journals of the early 20th century for his groundbreaking use of concrete as an outdoors-suitable sculptural medium.
Recommended Publications: Pictorial History of the Cabin Home in the Garden of Eden by S.P. Dinsmoor (c. 1927); Backyard Visionaries: Grassroots Art in the Midwest edited by Barbara Brackman and Cathy Dwigans (1998); Cementing His Political Views: S. P. Dinsmoor and the Garden of Eden by Suzanne Hasselle-Newcombe (2001); Dinsmoor as Creative Catalyst: 100 Years of the Garden of Eden in Lucas Kansas (2009) by Erika Nelson