Landscape Information
Located just outside Lincoln, Nebraska, this 668-acre park celebrates the prairie pioneers. Early planting began in 1929, with the final components of the original 1930 plan, designed by landscape architect Ernst H. Herminghaus, implemented during the Great Depression. Much of the work was completed by local and federal unemployment relief programs such as the Works Progress Administration, the National Youth Administration, and the Civil Works Administration.
The eastern 80 acres of the park are in the Beaux-Arts style, with conifer-lined allées in a radial pattern framing interior vistas and views to the Nebraska State Capitol Building, passive recreation areas, and naturalistic ponds. The remaining, less formal parkland includes a picnic area, a zoo, recreational trails, winding roads and paths, and sculptural focal elements. The Pinewood Bowl Amphitheatre, also designed by Herminghaus, was completed following World War II. Recent restoration work has focused on diversifying the disease-ravaged plantings, and a nature center and virgin prairie have been added to the west end of the park. Pioneers Park was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1993.
