Marthin Christianson, a Norwegian immigrant and former logger, moved west from Wisconsin to Dakota Territory in 1878 and became one of the first settlers in what became Brookings. Taking advantage of the Timber Culture Act of 1873, he claimed the quarter of land south of his homestead, now Hillcrest Park, and planted ash, cottonwood, and maple. Christianson sold Hillcrest to Mr. Lommen for $5,000 in 1900. Several hundred of the original green ash trees still survive in rows in the park’s northeast corner. From 1921 to 1941, travelers could rent eight small cabins there, and a swimming pool was added in 1937. An elementary school was built nearby in 1953. Today the park includes recreational facilities such as a playground, horseshoe pitching court, picnic ground, aquatic center, and tennis courts, and it is managed by the City of Brookings Parks, Recreation, and Forestry Department. During the blizzard of 1881, Christianson’s wife sheltered a nearly frozen traveler, who left the next day but never reached his destination; after a prairie fire that spring, a charred body was found and buried where it lay, and construction crews later uncovered it while breaking ground for the first addition to Hillcrest Elementary.