By Jaclyn Hicken
Hidden deep in the quiet neighborhoods behind the college-student-packed Wal-Mart in Orem, behind the noisy, car-laden freeway, lies a historic treasure unaffected by the busyness of the world around it.
“Nielsen”s Grove,” mused Orem City Manager Jim Reams. “Now that”s a great story.”
Located on Sandhill Road and 2000 South, Nielsen”s Grove historically stands as perhaps the first official park in the state of Utah. This park, begun in 1880 by Danish immigrant Jorgen Nielsen, plays a role in Orem City from its earliest beginnings to the present day.
When King Fredrick IV of Denmark built his castle in Odense in 1730, he oversaw the creation of a castle garden known as “Kongens Have,” or literally “The King”s Garden.” Jorgen”s uncle was a gardener in the castle garden, and as a youth Jorgen would often visit the gardens. While traveling to Utah, Jorgen dreamed of using millions of acres of untouched, western land, to build a garden of his own. This dream was fulfilled with the creation of Nielsen”s Grove, originally known as Lakeview Gardens.
“Here on Sandhill Road, Jorgen dreamed and worked to convert this wasteland not into a farm, but into a garden of beauty,” wrote Christian Jeppesen, Jr. in his history of the Lakeview Ward.
Nielsen”s Grove has a widely varied history, beginning with Jorgen and continuing through the present day. In the early 1880s, once Jorgen began fulfilling his dream, the work progresses quickly. Determinedly, Nielsen cleared his 40-acre plot of the sagebrush, rabbit brush and Cedar trees, and devoted himself to building his garden.
Jorgen designed his garden using elements from the design at Kongens Have. The centerpiece of the garden was a fountain powered by a natural spring. Four white marble statues decorated the fountain. A vagrant who stopped to beg for food reportedly noticed the marble and offered to carve the figures. The four statues took eight to nine months to finish. Three of the statues are currently housed at the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers museum in Provo, while the location of the fourth is unknown.
In addition to the fountain, the park also contained a reflecting pool, a covered dance floor, a steam-heated greenhouse, vine-covered arbors, and a 12-seater carousel swing. Excursionist came from all over the valley and Salt Lake to picnic in the popular park.
Nielsen”s Grove remained a tourist destination until 1910 when drainage from the benches above turned it into a swamp. The area was later abandoned and used as wheat fields during WWI.
In 1995 Orem city purchased the property where Nielsen”s Grove had been located, hoping to recreate the historical park. Headed by the Orem City Historic Preservation Committee, many people did research and worked to return the park to its former glory.
Today a replica of Nielsen”s house has been built and houses the park”s historical museum. This museum is self-guided and is entirely staffed by volunteers. From spring to fall, the museum is open Tuesday and Thursday from 1 to 4 p.m. and Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 4 to 6 p.m. Although the museum closed for the winter at the end of October, Fred Philpot, a city intern in charge of staffing the museum is willing to work around that.
“If people set up times to come in to the museum, church groups or school groups, I can set up any time to come and open the museum and go through it with them,” Philpot said. “We”re always in need of volunteers to work in the museum, too.”
The museum houses many items dating from the late 1800s to the 1960s. Various items found within the park during its development are on display in the museum, including horseshoes, bones, glass, pottery, bottles and pans. A 100-year-old quilt is also on display. Throughout the museum, historical photographs document the history of the park. Replicas of the oil painting used to advertise the park back in the 1800s are visible as are photographic replicas of the statues from the fountain.
The new park, in addition to the museum, contains a new water fountain, a reflecting pool, a rebuilt carousel swing, picnic pavilions, walking pathways, a playground, parterre gardens and a natural pond.
Only a short distance away from the busy freeway, Nielsen”s Grove stands as a 22-acre haven from the world. Quiet couples walk arm-in-arm across the grass. Children play energetically on the six-seater carousel swings, while ducks meander happily on the natural pond. “This is not the kind of park for soccer, but it”s very popular for picnics with families and for youth activities and ward activities,” Orem City Manager Jim Reams said. “It”s a flower park. Go in April; the city has 24,000 tulip bulbs planted.”
Volunteers who work at the park oversee the museum, keeping it open for the public to walk through. People interested in volunteering can call Philpot at 229-7099 for information, or to set up a time to tour the museum. Many of the current volunteers working in the museum were recruited from the local chapter of the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers. One of these volunteers, Claire Herrick, smiles as she looks out the open museum door.
“I love it here. It”s beautiful,” she said. “Is there anything better than to sit here and read and look out at the park and the mountains?”
Sidebar
Orem City has focused heavily on improving city parks in the last few months. In addition to restoring Nielsen”s Grove, the city also renovated two other major parks.
The Mt. Timpanogos Park, located on Provo Canyon Road and Highway 198 has been improved in the past year. These improvements helped this 44-acre park better host more than 24,000 people at this year”s Timpanogos Storytelling Festival.
Yet another park, the Lakeside Sports Park, located at 400 South and 1850 West, boasts the “premier youth soccer facilities in the state,” according to Orem Mayor Jerry Washburn and City Manager Jim Reams.
“The park has room for multiple full-sized soccer fields,” Reams said. “When kids play … they divide it up. I”ve seen 20 different soccer games going on at the same time.”
“If you go down during soccer season, you”ll see literally hundreds of families with children playing,” added Washburn.
