Pioneer Information
Born in Lamberton, Minnesota, Enerson earned a B.A. from nearby Carleton College in 1931 and an M.L.A. from Harvard in 1935. He was awarded the Charles Eliot Traveling Fellowship but postponed his trip abroad until the following year, working in the interim with landscape architect Morley Jeffers Williams at Mount Vernon, Virginia. Enerson returned from Europe in 1937 and worked briefly with Olmsted Brothers in Brookline, Massachusetts, and later with Fletcher Steele in Boston. After serving in the U.S. Naval Reserve from 1943 to 1946, Enerson partnered with architect Ken Clark, a Harvard classmate, to form the design firm Clark & Enersen in Lincoln, Nebraska. The firm would evolve with the addition of staff and principals over the years, becoming the Clark Enersen Partners in 1977.
Enerson’s work in Lincoln included the Capehart Housing project at Lincoln Air Force Base; the Lincoln Children’s Zoo; Nebraska’s Centennial Mall; the 13th Street Streetscape; Interstate Park; and Pinewood Bowl Amphitheater. The firm also completed master plans for the University of Nebraska, Omaha; the University of Nebraska, Lincoln; Peru State College; and Chadron State College. For the design of the Lincoln Community Foundation Garden, in 1965, Enersen took inspiration from Bertram Goodhue (the architect of the Nebraska State Capitol) and used the concept of “forced perspective” in his design of the rear fountain. Enersen was named a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape in 1975. He taught at various schools and colleges between 1940 and 1943, including the Boston Architectural Club (now Boston Architectural College), the University of Michigan, the Lowthorpe School in Groton, Massachusetts, and the Harvard Graduate School of Design. He remained active as an educator all his life, teaching occasionally at North Carolina State University and at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. Enersen passed away in Lincoln on July 9, 1983.