The Fine Arts Society of Peoria is offering a presentation by Julia Bachrach, author, historian, and preservation planning consultant based in Chicago. Julia will discuss Jensen’s many contributions to landscape design and protection of irreplaceable green spaces throughout the Midwest. Jens Jensen (1869-1959) was one of the nation’s most influential landscape architects and conservationists of the 20th century. He emigrated from Denmark and began his career as a laborer for Chicago’s West Park Commission, rising through the ranks to become the park system’s general superintendent and chief landscape designer in 1905. Inspired by natural scenery, Jensen redesigned three city parks in what became known as the Prairie Style of landscape architecture, and started a movement to save threatened scenic areas.