Pioneer Information
Born in Thornberry, Canada, Abram (later John A.) Brooks studied plumbing as a young man. After achieving the title of master plumber, he established a plumbing company in Toledo, Ohio, under his changed name. In 1915, there he developed and installed an innovative, underground, pop-up sprinkling system at the residence of Lillie I. Donat, which he patented the following year as the “Lawn Sprinkling Means” system. In 1917 he relocated to Detroit, where the auto industry was establishing a strong foothold.
He developed irrigation systems initially for private clients, many of whom were associated with the mercantile and automobile industries, among them S. S. Kresge and the Fisher brothers. At Fair Lane—the Henry and Clara Ford Estate—Brooks, in 1926, utilized more than 1,100 sprinkler heads, to sustain an expansive meadow designed by landscape architect Jens Jensen. Ford also commissioned Brooks to design and install below-ground irrigation systems for his automotive factories.
Civic leaders took notice of Brooks’s residential and corporate projects, and, in 1921, he received commissions to install underground sprinklers in Roosevelt Park, at the entrance to the Michigan Central Train Depot in Detroit. Other large-scale projects followed, including Central Park, New York City (1928); Grant Park, Chicago (1937); and the U.S. Capitol Grounds, Washington, DC (1939).
Through his many inventions—eleven of which were fully patented in the United States—Brooks profoundly impacted the management and design of landscapes for generations to come.
Brooks passed away in St. Petersburg, Florida, at the age of 86.
