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In addition to a main castle-like structure, the garden once had grottos, bridges and even fish ponds. - Colleen Harrison/Albert Lea Tribune

A birdhouse is just one of the details found in what remains of the Itasca Rock Garden. - Colleen Harrison/Albert Lea Tribune

A sundial is just one of the details found in what remains of the Itasca Rock Garden. - Colleen Harrison/Albert Lea Tribune

There are a number of different cutouts and hideaways throughout the rock garden. - Colleen Harrison/Albert Lea Tribune

There are a number of different cutouts and hideaways throughout the rock garden. - Colleen Harrison/Albert Lea Tribune

The grandchildren of Arthur and Edna Johnson, who owned the property until 1985, are hoping a foundation will take on the task of restoring and preserving the Itasca Rock Garden. - Colleen Harrison/Albert Lea Tribune

There are a number of different cutouts and hideaways throughout the rock garden. - Colleen Harrison/Albert Lea Tribune

The Itasca Rock Garden, built in 1925, has become overgrown and in need of maintenance over the years. - Colleen Harrison/Albert Lea Tribune

The Itasca Rock Garden is pictured on a postcard. - Photo courtesy Freeborn County Historical Museum

The Itasca Rock Gardens in 1944. - Photo courtesy Freeborn County Historical Museum

The Itasca Rock Garden was constructed in 1925 by John L. Christensen, initially as a way for Christensen to store beehives. - Photo courtesy Freeborn County Historical Museum

An offer by a Wisconsin-based preservation foundation to purchase the Itasca Rock Garden and adjacent home northwest of Edgewater Park in Albert Lea has been accepted, according to an official with the foundation.

Terri Yoho, director of preservation with the Kohler Foundation, said the foundation plans to preserve the work in the rock garden, renovate the home on the property and then gift them back to the Freeborn County Historical Museum.

“It’s our mission to preserve because if it deteriorates and it’s lost, there’s no getting it back,” Yoho said. 

The foundation was contacted about the property by Scott Johnson, a grandson of Arthur and Edna Johnson, who had lived on the site and cared for the garden from 1954 to 1985, Yoho said. It was built in 1925 by John L. Christensen and features a main castle-like structure, grottos, bridges and fish ponds.

Over the years, the Itasca Rock Garden became a popular destination for both locals and out-of-town people to explore and visit for photographs, whether it be senior photos, weddings or anything in between. In recent years, however, the garden became overgrown after the property went into foreclosure in 2014.

Yoho said the rock garden is “exactly the kind of property” the foundation is interested in preserving. According to the organization’s website, preservation of “art environments, folk architecture and collections by self-taught artists” has been a major focus of the foundation since the 1970s. Though preservation work with the foundation started in Wisconsin, it has since spread to Louisiana, Kansas, Ohio, Maine and Georgia, according to the site.

“We feel that the art — the work — that was done by Mr. Christensen has merit and should be preserved,” she said.

She noted a site such as the rock garden can be inspirational to the entire community and can also play a role in economic development, bringing in visitors to the community, who in turn love to stay, shop and eat.

“It tends to be good for a community,” she said.

Yoho said though work still has to be done before the closing on the property, she is excited about the project.

“We are so overwhelmed by the welcome we’ve received and so look forward to working in the community,” she said.

Johnson said news that the offer was accepted is still sinking in.

“I am so overwhelmed with happiness that the garden is going to be back to its original condition,” he said. “I didn’t think this was going to happen.”

He thanked Yoho and the team at the foundation and many others who have worked to make the project a reality, including real estate broker Robert Hoffman of Robert Hoffman Realty, Johnson’s wife, his family and others in the community who have supported the cause.

“The main reason Terri and her team fought so hard to do this project was the community support, and they felt there was a very welcoming atmosphere here,” Johnson said. “Thank you, Albert Lea.”

He also thanked his brother-in-law, Dale McCausland, who he visited with his wife in Springfield, Ohio, during a layover. There, when they were looking for places to visit, they came across the Hartman Rock Garden and the preservation work that had been done there by the Kohler Foundation.

“If it wasn’t for that, this whole mission probably wouldn’t have happened,” he said.

Stephanie Kibler, executive director of the Freeborn County Historical Museum, said the museum’s board has started conversations about what the museum plans to do once the property is restored.

Kibler said they’ve discussed offering it for tours, events, weddings and educational purposes. They’ve also started conversations about whether to have the house available for small retreats and team building, whether to rent it out and whether to have a caretaker there full time.

They plan to keep the community informed of the progress on the museum’s Facebook page.

“Overall, there’s a really nice level of excitement, and reading some of the posts and seeing some of the excitement through social media, we’re happy the community is excited, and it’s something that can be given back to the community,” Kibler said.

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