EXHIBITS
The Built Environment: 130 Years of Growth, Development, and Change on the USU Campus: Growing a Campus: Landscape Development and Design
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Growing a Campus: Landscape Development and Design
The layout and maintenance of the college grounds has been an integral part of the built environment since the founding of the university. Initially, the barren College Hill consisted of little more than sagebrush and wind. However, as the buildings continued to grow so did the number of trees and green space.
President John A. Widtsoe
In 1912 President Widtsoe engaged the East Coast architectural firm of Pray, White and Hubbard to produce the first campus master plan. The plan clearly laid out the central campus, placing prospective buildings east of Old Main along the north and south sides of a campus green, today’s Quad. While the architects provided a vision for ordering the campus, they gave little advice concerning the type of trees and other ornamentals to plant. Therefore, the sprouting agricultural college sought outside assistance to beautify its grounds.
Emil Hansen
In 1914, Emil Hansen, a landscape gardener born and educated in Denmark, became the first superintendent of grounds at the college. Hansen brought to his position a unique eye for detail and knowledge of plants capable of thriving under local conditions. By 1919, Hansen had developed his own vision for the campus, proposing a variety of planted beds and landscaping that added depth and design to the 1912 master plan. For fifteen years, Hansen worked to beautify the appearance of campus. During the 1920s, he guided the plowing and replanting of the central Quad, the laying of walkways, and the planting of trees.
With President Peterson’s unswerving support, Hansen’s efforts permitted the college to become one of the most compact and scenic campuses in the western U.S. Capitalizing on campus aesthetics, Peterson announced the opening of a National Summer School (NSS) in 1924. During its first four years, visiting professors from many of the most prestigious institutions in the nation—including David Star Jordan (Stanford), Frederick Jackson Turner (Harvard), and Liberty Hyde Bailey (Cornell)—spent six weeks of their summer lecturing in Logan.
