In 1932, an Ohio foundry worker lost his job and began building a rock garden; he spent 12 years creating hundreds of structures, and his wife preserved it for another 53 years

When Harry George "Ben" Hartman lost his job as an iron moulder at the Springfield Machine Tool Company during the Great Depression, he picked up a trowel and began digging a small concrete fishing pond in his backyard. That simple project soon grew across his entire residential lot. Over 12 years, Hartman built a huge folk art environment using more than 250,000 stones, concrete, metal scraps, wood and recycled glass. After his death in 1944, his wife Mary cared for the entire complex on her own for 53 years, protecting what became one of the leading folk art environments in the United States. According to documentation from the Friends of the Hartman Rock Garden and the Kohler Foundation, the property at 1905 Russell Avenue contains dozens of detailed stone structures, miniature landmarks and hundreds of hand-painted figures representing American history, religion, patriotism and popular culture.

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