The Garden of Eden in Lucas, Kansas built in 21 years by Samuel P. Dinsmoor

Photo byAstromoe at Eng. Wikipedia, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Samuel Perry "S.P." Dinsmoor (Mar. 8, 1843 – July 21, 1932) was the creator of The Garden of Eden in Lucas, Kansas.

Perry was a Civil War veteran, teacher, and farmer. He had belonged to a Masonic Lodge. As a mason, he approached life more philosophically and became more involved with the freethinkers movement.

Freethought is a philosophical viewpoint that holds that opinions should be formed on the basis of science, logic, and reason, and should not be influenced by authority, tradition, or any dogma. (Source.)

Perry built a concrete house, barn, and pyramid. The last Dinsmoor creation was a concrete mausoleum. After spending over two decades building, Dinsmoor was placed in a glass coffin inside that concrete mausoleum. He was his last exhibit.

According to a Facebook post, the older woman on the porch is said to be the first Mrs. Dinsmoor.Photo byThe Garden of Eden via Facebook.

Dinsmoor has been defined as an eccentric sculptor. He was born in Coolville, Ohio, and served three years with the Union Army during the Civil War. One of the events he witnessed was the Battle of Gettysburg.

After the war, Dinsmoor moved to Illinois in 1866 where he was a schoolteacher for five years. He also married his first wife, Frances A. Barlow Journey, a widow with three children, on August 24, 1870. Together, they had five more children. They moved to Lucas, Kansas in 1888.

In Lucas, Dinsmoore took up farming later. For a bit, he lived in Nebraska in 1890, but he returned to Kansas in 1891. After Dinsmore retired from farming in 1905, he and his family moved into town. He started a new chapter in his life as a sculptor.

It was in Lucas when he began constructing their cabin home which he worked on along with the Garden of Eden between 1907 and 1928. When he started building his creations, he was 64.

The limestone constructed "log" cabin home.Photo byThe Garden of Eden via Facebook.

The Garden of Eden

In Lucas, Kansas, Dinsmoor acquired a lot on which he built a limestone-made "log" cabin. The cabin had 12 rooms. He also designed the landscape. Dismore used 113 tons of cement and tons of limestone for his log cabin home and sculptures. He named it the Garden of Eden.

Dinsmore went on and spent the remainder of his life making this garden containing over 200 concrete sculptures. Those sculptures along with his cabin house were a reflection of his belief in the Populist movement. It was also a reflection of his religious beliefs.

The garden is open to the public and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on April 28, 1977.

Photo byThe Garden of Eden via Facebook.

Samuel P. "S.P." Dinsmore died on July 21, 1932, at age 89. Frances Ann Barlow Dinsmoor died on April 28, 1917, at age 78. After her first husband, Samuel Journey, died, she had three minor children to raise.

After Dinsmore's mausoleum was built, he dug up the remains of his first wife and she was re-interred in the mausoleum.

At some point, Dinsmoor hired a beautiful Czechoslovakian woman, Emilie Emma Brozek, to be his housekeeper. When Emilie was 20, she married Dinsmoor, who was then 81. They had two children. Their son, Col. John William Dinsmoor (1928-2013), served in the Vietnam War. Their daughter, Emily Jane Dinsmoor Stevens also died in 2013 and her remains are in the Dinsmoor mausoleum.

In 1962, Emilie remarried to Albert Gordon “Casey” Rounkles (1911-1984). Emilie died on April 1, 1995, at age 91. She and her second husband were laid to rest at Hillcrest Cemetery in Excelsior Springs, Missouri.

The large mausoleum has a nice-sized angel on top.Photo byThe Garden of Eden via Facebook.

Visitors can view where Dinsmoor is in the concrete coffin located behind a glass wall. Oddly, inside the mausoleum, there is a double-exposed photo of Dinsmoor while alive viewing his deceased body in the coffin. The site was gifted to the Friends of S.P. Dinsmoor’s Garden of Eden.

For Admission rates, hours, and information on guided tours, visit here. Interestingly, while the population of Lucas, Kansas is only 339 according to World Population Review, there are over 10,000 annual visitors to the Garden of Eden.

Thank you for reading and sharing!