Pioneer Information
Born in Norway, Reimers immigrated to the U.S. and settled in California before 1883. He established himself as a painter at an early age, focusing predominantly on landscapes, which laid the foundation for his design practice. Around 1900 Reimers was hired to work as a landscape gardener for the San Joaquin Division of the Santa Fe Railway, where he introduced the idea of improving the depots with parks. This work and his experience with planting in hot, dry climates led to his appointment as the chief gardener for the City of Fresno, California. In this role he designed the planting scheme for Roeding Park in 1903 and Hobart Park in 1906. Following these naturalistic public park designs, he was commissioned in 1910 to design Mooney Grove Park, a 100-acre, valley woodland in Visalia, California. In 1907 Reimers moved to San Francisco and attended the Institute of Art. His work was publically exhibited at the Golden Gate Park Museum and San Francisco Academy of Art, in 1915 and 1916 respectively. Today, Reimers is better known as an artist than as a landscape architect, with paintings in the Oakland Art Museum and the Art Institute of Chicago.
