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Frederick Law Olmsted
1822 - 1903
Inducted October 1988 |
"The beauty of the park...should be of the fi elds, the meadow, the prairie, of the green pastures, and the still waters. What we want to gain is tranquility and rest to the mind." |
Born to a prosperous merchant in Hartford, CT, Frederick Law Olmsted acquired a youthful interest in people and their environment. Due to a vision problem caused by sumac poisoning, Olmsted’s plan to attend Yale College in 1837 was altered. Early occupations as a seaman, merchant, and journalist infl uenced his perspectives. As a journalist, he visited Birkenhead Park in Merseyside, England in 1850. This trip inspired him to write Walks and Talks of an American Farmer in England (1852). In this publication, he commented about Birkenhead Park:
“Five minutes of admiration, and a few more spent studying the manner in which art had been employed to obtain from nature so much beauty, and I was ready to admit that in democratic America there was nothing to be thought of as comparable with this People’s Garden.”
Perhaps this inspiration affected the way America looks. Olmsted is best known as the creator of major urban parks across the nation, from green spaces that help define our towns and cities, to suburban life, to protected wilderness areas, he left the imprint of his fertile mind and boundless energy. Out of his deep love for the land and his social commitment, he fathered the profession of landscape architecture in America.
Regarded as a key figure in the American park movement, Olmsted’s influence was vital in establishing parks throughout the nation. As Central Park’s first superintendent, he, along with Calvert Vaux, conceived the Greensward Plan, the award winning design that guided the development of Central Park. The success of their innovative park design created a demand for Olmsted’s services in other cities. Over the years, the landscape architecture
Frederick Law Olmsted |
Central Park, The Mall |
Olmsted’s foresight led to the development of urban environmental areas open to use by all people. He believed the purpose for the creation of Central Park was “to be that of permanently affording, in the densely populated central portion of an immense metropolis, a means to certain kinds of refreshment of the mind and nerves which most city dwellers greatly need and which they are known to derive in large measure from the enjoyment of suitable scenery.” He was convinced his work could influence society. The parks Olmsted planned were to be spaces common to all residents of the cities, where all types of people could mingle free from the harsh influences of urban life. He believed that scenery had a profound psychological effect on people and that the open and natural terrain of parks provided a specific medical antidote to the stresses of city life. To Olmsted, parks promoted a sense of community through accessibility to the poor as well as the rich.
Olmsted is best known as the creator of major urban parks across the nation, from green spaces that help define our towns and cities, to suburban life, to protected wilderness areas, he left the imprint of his fertile mind and boundless energy. Out of his deep love for the land and his social commitment, he fathered the profession of landscape architecture in America.
In addition to Central Park, Olmsted also designed Riverside and Morningside Parks in New York City; South Park and Jackson Park in Chicago; the Boston Park System; Belle Island in Detroit; and parks in Albany, Buffalo, Rochester, San Francisco, Newark, Philadelphia, Hartford, Trenton, Louisville, Milwaukee and Kansas City, among others.
Adapted from: Hartsoe, C, Sanders, D & Bridges, M (eds) (2009), Profiles in Leadership: Robert W. Crawford Recreation and Park Hall of Fame. National Recreation and Park Association and American Academy of Park and Recreation Administration.
- National Park Service Brochure on the Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site.