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NPS Form 10-900 a OMBApprwalNo1024 0018 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service • National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number _8_ Page _13_ Statement of Significance Leeper Park should be considered significant as determined by Criteria "C": "The property embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of construction or represents the work of a master, or possesses high artistic values, or represents a significant and distinguishable entity whose components lack individual distinction." The Park is an outstanding example of the landscape planning and design for a small city park of the City Beautiful era of American landscape architectural design. The design combines aspects of city -planning, landscape planning for a network of parks and boulevards, and incorporates both early 20th century formalism and earlier principles of pastoral park planning. The Kessler and earlier Beyer designs for Leeper Park provided the quintessential components of the City Park: informally landscaped areas for passive recreation, a system of curvilinear paths for strolling, a driveway system for the new recreational form of driving for pleasure, playfields and playgrounds for active recreation and formal landscape features such as gardens and broad terraces for public gatherings. The Kessler plan for Leeper Park was envisioned as the centerpiece of the South Bend system. Its drives would connect to others along the riverway park system, and lead past the City Waterworks to the neo -classically designed Michigan Street Bridge. Leeper Park provided the citizens of South Bend with a front porch to the St. Joseph River, and an . appropriate setting for the City's waterwork facilities. In considering the historic significance of Leeper Park, dates were selected which cover all eras of the Parks history: early history 1895-1911; Kessler era: 1912-1923; 1924-1940: implementation of the Kessler plan, including additions through WPA era improvements. The early design for the Park by Herman Beyer in 1905 represents the skilled work of a local master gardener. Beyer had been the landscape gardener for the estate landscape owned by James Oliver, a prominent South Bend industrialist. This Victorian Park plan developed and implemented by Beyer was simple in its layout, but was carefully related to the river, the city's street pattern, and the intended use as a public pleasure ground. A skilled plantsman, Beyer's contribution to Leeper Park included shaping the land from what had been not much more than a slough, extensive plantings, the creation of early lagoons with planted borders and water plantings, and the characteristic use of the late Victorian era flower beddings, seats, and other architectural embellishments. The association of Leeper Park with George Kessler places the Park and its South Bend park companions in elite company. George Kessler was at the height of his career during the years he was associated with the City. His hiring, and the subsequent implementation of the Kessler plan (1912) for South Bend Parks was a source of great civic pride, the product of which is a well-defined parkway system along the St. Joseph River accented by park facilities along the way. The Leeper Park design by Kessler in 1915 proposed a skillful remodelling of the earlier Beyer layout. The drive . layout was reworked to include a continuous river driveway. The walkway system featured signature Kessler sweeping curves, Y intersections, and careful transitions to incorporate formal design elements into the plan. The 3 distinct sections of the Park, each with their own structured recreation