Morgan "Bill" Evans

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Morgan "Bill" Evans (June 10, 1910 – August 16, 2002) was a

Anaheim, California to create Disneyland
.

Early life

Evans was born in

Santa Monica, California, where he learned botany from his father, a second-generation horticulturalist. He joined the Merchant Marine
in 1928 and traveled around the world on the SS President Harrison, gathering seeds for his father's garden from the countries he visited.

After returning from duty, Evans studied at

Holmby Hills
home and surrounding gardens. Disney was impressed by Evan's skill and invited Evans and his brother, Jack, to landscape what would become Disneyland.

Landscaping Disneyland

In less than a year, Evans had transformed 80 acres (320,000 m2) of

palms, and ficus
trees towering 70 feet (21 m) tall. To create the appearance of exotic jungle branches, Evans planted walnut trees upside down to give the appearance that their gnarled roots were branches.

Later work with Disney

After Disneyland opened in July 1955, Evans stayed on with Disney as a landscape planner, consultant and maintenance supervisor at the park. Disney made him the director of landscape architecture. His projects in this capacity included working on Disneyland additions,

EPCOT
Center.

Evans retired from Disney in 1975, but continued his work for Disney with the landscape design of

Disney-MGM Studios and Disney's Animal Kingdom
.

Personal life

After the death of his wife Jane, Bill married Natalie Scott (who had two teenage daughters). His adult son and daughter lived in northern California. Aside from his work at Disney, Evans was also a writer for

Sunset magazine, a trustee for the Los Angeles County Arboretum, and a fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects
.

Death and legacy

Evans died at age 92 in Malibu, California. The cause of death was not reported.[2]

Evans was posthumously awarded the American Society of Landscape Architects Medal in 2002 in recognition of his lifetime achievement in the profession of landscape architecture.[3]

References

  1. ^ "Disney Legends: Bill Evans (Imagineering)". Retrieved 2008-10-02.
  2. ^ Freudenheim, Susan (2002-08-16). "Morgan Evans, 92; Directed Landscaping at Disney Parks". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2008-10-02.
  3. ^ "Flamingo Green: Morgan "Bill" Evans, FASLA". Retrieved 2008-10-02.

External links


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