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To Protect and Preserve: An Early History of the Forest Preserve District of Cook County, Illinois, 1900-1930

Jens Jensen (1860-1951)

Along with Dwight Perkins, Jens Jensen was one of the leading advocates for creating a forest preserve district in Cook County. As a conservationist, he worked with Perkins on the Metropolitan Park Report, contributing his chapter on the “Proposed System of Forest Parks and County Pleasure Roads.” He envisioned a comprehensive program to maintain existing forests that lay mostly along rivers and in wetlands. Later in life, he designed the Garfield Park Conservatory and was responsible for the creation of Columbus Park on Chicago’s western border near Oak Park.

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Jens Jensen (1860-1951) Along with Dwight Perkins, Jens Jensen was one of the leading advocates of the forest preserve district. As a conservationist, he worked with Perkins on the Metropolitan Park Report, contributing his chapter on the Proposed System of Forest Parks and County Pleasure Roads. He envisioned a comprehensive program to preserve existing forests that lay mostly along rivers and in wetlands. Later in life, he designed the Garfield Park Conservatory and was responsible for the creation of Columbus Park on Chicago's western border near Oak Park. Image credit: The Book of Chicago, 1911, page 58, Special Collections & University Archives, University of Illinois Chicago Library.