Frederick Law Olmsted (April 26, 1822August 28, 1903) was an American
landscape architect, journalist,
social critic, and public administrator. He is considered to be the father of
landscape architecture in the USA. Olmsted was famous for co-designing many well-known urban parks with his partner
Calvert Vaux
Calvert Vaux (; December 20, 1824 – November 19, 1895) was an English-American architect and landscape designer, best known as the co-designer, along with his protégé and junior partner Frederick Law Olmsted, of what would become New York Ci ...
. Olmsted and Vaux's first project was
Central Park
Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban park in the United States, with an estimated ...
, which led to many other urban park designs, including
Prospect Park in what was then the City of Brooklyn (now the Borough of Brooklyn in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
) and
Cadwalader Park
Cadwalader Park is a city park located in Trenton, Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. The nearly green space is Trenton's oldest park. It is named for Thomas Cadwalader, who lived for a while near Trenton where he became the chief burge ...
in
Trenton, New Jersey
Trenton is the capital city of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. It was the capital of the United States from November 1 to December 24, 1784.[Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...]
; the country's oldest state park, the
Niagara Reservation
Niagara Falls State Park is located in the City of Niagara Falls in Niagara County, New York, United States. The park, recognized as the oldest state park in the United States, contains the American Falls, the Bridal Veil Falls, and a portion ...
in
Niagara Falls, New York; one of the first planned communities in the United States,
Riverside, Illinois
Riverside is a suburban village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. A significant portion of the village is in the Riverside Landscape Architecture District, designated a National Historic Landmark in 1970. The population of the village was ...
;
Mount Royal Park in
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...
,
Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...
;
The Institute of Living in Hartford, Connecticut; Waterbury Hospital in Waterbury, Connecticut; the
Emerald Necklace in
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
,
Massachusetts
Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
;
Highland Park in
Rochester, New York
Rochester () is a city in the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, and Yonkers, with a population of 211,328 at the 2020 United States census. Located in W ...
; the
Grand Necklace of Parks in
Milwaukee
Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee ...
,
Wisconsin
Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...
;
Cherokee Park and parks and parkway system in
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...
;
Walnut Hill Park in
New Britain, Connecticut; the
Biltmore Estate in
Asheville, North Carolina; the master plans for the
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
, the
University of Maine,
Stanford University near
Palo Alto, California
Palo Alto (; Spanish for "tall stick") is a charter city in the northwestern corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto.
The city was es ...
,
Mount Holyoke College,
The Lawrenceville School
The Lawrenceville School is a coeducational preparatory school for boarding and day students located in the Lawrenceville section of Lawrence Township, in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. Lawrenceville is a member of the Eight Scho ...
; and
Montebello Park
Montebello Park is a public park in downtown St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada, designed by Frederick Law Olmsted. It features a commemorative rose garden with over 1,300 bushes in 25 varieties is the city's largest rose collection and an ornamenta ...
in
St. Catharines,
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...
. In Chicago his projects include
Jackson Park,
Washington Park, the main park ground for the 1893
World's Columbian Exposition, the south portion of Chicago's "emerald necklace"
boulevard
A boulevard is a type of broad avenue planted with rows of trees, or in parts of North America, any urban highway.
Boulevards were originally circumferential roads following the line of former city walls.
In American usage, boulevards may ...
ring, and the
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...
campus. In
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
, he worked on the landscape surrounding the
United States Capitol
The United States Capitol, often called The Capitol or the Capitol Building, is the seat of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, which is formally known as the United States Congress. It is located on Capitol Hill ...
building.
The quality of Olmsted's landscape architecture was recognized by his contemporaries, who showered him with prestigious commissions.
Daniel Burnham
Daniel Hudson Burnham (September 4, 1846 – June 1, 1912) was an American architect and urban designer. A proponent of the '' Beaux-Arts'' movement, he may have been, "the most successful power broker the American architectural profession has ...
said of him, "He paints with lakes and wooded slopes; with lawns and banks and forest-covered hills; with mountainsides and ocean views...."
His work, especially in Central Park, set a standard of excellence that continues to influence landscape architecture in the United States. He was an early and important
activist in the
conservation movement
The conservation movement, also known as nature conservation, is a political, environmental, and social movement that seeks to manage and protect natural resources, including animal, fungus, and plant species as well as their habitat for the ...
, including work at Niagara Falls; the Adirondack region of upstate New York; and the National Park system; and, though little known, played a major role in organizing and providing medical services to the
Union Army
During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union of the collective states. It proved essential to th ...
in the Civil War.
Biography
Early life and education
Olmsted was born in
Hartford, Connecticut, on April 26, 1822. His father, John Olmsted, was a prosperous merchant who took a lively interest in nature, people, and places; Frederick Law and his younger brother, John Hull, also showed this interest. His mother, Charlotte Law (Hull) Olmsted, died before his fourth birthday. His father remarried in 1827 to Mary Ann Bull, who shared her husband's strong love of nature and had perhaps a more cultivated taste. The
Olmsted ancestors arrived in the early 1600s from
Essex
Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...
, England.
When the young Olmsted was almost ready to enter
Yale College,
sumac poisoning weakened his eyes, so he gave up college plans. After working as an apprentice seaman, merchant, and journalist, Olmsted settled on a 125-acre farm in January 1848 on the south shore of
Staten Island, New York, a farm which his father helped him acquire. This farm, originally named the
Akerly Homestead, was renamed
Tosomock Farm by Olmsted. It was later renamed "The Woods of Arden" by owner
Erastus Wiman
Erastus Wiman (21 April 1834 – 9 February 1904) was a Canadian journalist and businessman who later moved to the United States. He is best known as a developer in the New York City borough of Staten Island.
Biography
Wiman was born in Churc ...
. (The house in which Olmsted lived still stands at
4515 Hylan Boulevard, near Woods of Arden Road.)
Marriage and family
On June 13, 1859, Olmsted married Mary Cleveland (Perkins) Olmsted, the widow of his brother John (who had died in 1857).
Daniel Fawcett Tiemann, the mayor of New York, officiated the wedding. He adopted her three children (his nephews and niece),
John Charles Olmsted
John Charles Olmsted (1852–1920), was an American landscape architect. The nephew and adopted son of Frederick Law Olmsted, he worked with his father and his younger brother, Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., in their father's firm. After their fath ...
(born 1852), Charlotte Olmsted (who later married a Bryant), and Owen Olmsted.
Frederick and Mary also had two children together who survived infancy: a daughter, Marion (born October 28, 1861), and a son
Frederick Law Olmsted Jr., born in 1870. Their first child, John Theodore Olmsted, was born on June 13, 1860, and died in infancy.
Career
Journalism
Olmsted had a significant career in journalism. In 1850 he traveled to England to visit public gardens, where he was greatly impressed by
Joseph Paxton's
Birkenhead Park
Birkenhead Park is a major public park located in the centre of Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. It was designed by Joseph Paxton and opened on 5 April 1847. It is generally acknowledged as the first publicly funded civic park in the world. Th ...
. He subsequently wrote and published ''Walks and Talks of an American Farmer in England'' in 1852. This supported his getting additional work. His visit to Birkenhead Park inspired his later contribution to the design of
Central Park
Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban park in the United States, with an estimated ...
in New York City.
Interested in the slave economy, he was commissioned by the ''New York Daily Times'' (now ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'') to embark on an extensive research journey through the
American South and
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...
from 1852 to 1857. His dispatches to the ''Times'' were collected into three volumes (''A Journey in the Seaboard Slave States'' (1856), ''A Journey Through Texas'' (1857), ''A Journey in the Back Country in the Winter of 1853-4'' (1860).
These are considered vivid first-person accounts of the antebellum South. A one-volume abridgment, ''Journeys and Explorations in the Cotton Kingdom'' (1861), was published in England during the first six months of the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...
, at the suggestion of Olmsted's English publisher.
To this he wrote a new introduction (on "The Present Crisis"). He stated his views on the effect of slavery on the economy and social conditions of the southern states:
My own observation of the real condition of the people of our Slave States, gave me ... an impression that the cotton monopoly in some way did them more harm than good; and although the written narration of what I saw was not intended to set this forth, upon reviewing it for the present publication, I find the impression has become a conviction.
Olmsted argued that slavery had made the slave states inefficient (a set amount of work took 4 times as long in Virginia as in the North) and backward both economically and socially. He said that the profits of slavery were enjoyed by no more than 8,000 owners of large plantations; a somewhat larger group had about the standard of living of a New York City policeman, but the proportion of the free white men who were as well-off as a Northern working man was small. Slavery meant that 'the proportion of men improving their condition was much less than in any Northern community; and that the natural resources of the land were strangely unused, or were used with poor economy.'
Olmsted thought that the lack of a Southern white middle class and the general poverty of lower-class whites prevented the development of many civil amenities which were taken for granted in the North.
The citizens of the cotton States, as a whole, are poor. They work little, and that little, badly; they earn little, they sell little; they buy little, and they have little – very little – of the common comforts and consolations of civilized life. Their destitution is not material only; it is intellectual and it is moral ... They were neither generous nor hospitable and their talk was not that of evenly courageous men.
Between his travels in Europe and the South, Olmsted served as an editor for ''
Putnam's Magazine
''Putnam's Monthly Magazine of American Literature, Science and Art'' was a monthly periodical published by G. P. Putnam's Sons featuring American literature and articles on science, art, and politics.
Series
The magazine had three incarnation ...
'' for two years
and as an agent with Dix, Edwards and Co., prior to the company's insolvency during the
Panic of 1857. Olmsted provided financial support for, and occasionally wrote for, the magazine ''
The Nation
''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper t ...
'', which was founded in 1865.
"Olmsted spent much of his free time working without pay as an editorial assistant to
he magazine's first editor, Edwin L.
He or HE may refer to:
Language
* He (pronoun), an English pronoun
* He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ
* He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets
* He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...
Godkin. It was a labor of love."
New York City's Central Park
Andrew Jackson Downing
Andrew Jackson Downing (October 31, 1815 – July 28, 1852) was an American landscape designer, horticulturist, and writer, a prominent advocate of the Gothic Revival in the United States, and editor of ''The Horticulturist'' magazine (1846–5 ...
, the charismatic landscape architect from
Newburgh, New York
Newburgh is a city in the U.S. state of New York, within Orange County. With a population of 28,856 as of the 2020 census, it is a principal city of the Poughkeepsie–Newburgh–Middletown metropolitan area. Located north of New York City, a ...
, was one of the first to propose developing New York's
Central Park
Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban park in the United States, with an estimated ...
in his role as publisher of ''The Horticulturist'' magazine. A friend and mentor to Olmsted, Downing introduced him to the English-born architect
Calvert Vaux
Calvert Vaux (; December 20, 1824 – November 19, 1895) was an English-American architect and landscape designer, best known as the co-designer, along with his protégé and junior partner Frederick Law Olmsted, of what would become New York Ci ...
, whom Downing had brought to the U.S. as his architectural collaborator. After Downing died in July 1852 in a widely publicized fire on the
Hudson River
The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...
steamboat
Henry Clay, Olmsted and Vaux entered the Central Park design competition together, against
Egbert Ludovicus Viele among others. Vaux had invited the less experienced Olmsted to participate in the design competition with him, having been impressed with Olmsted's theories and political contacts. Prior to this, in contrast with the more experienced Vaux, Olmsted had never designed or executed a landscape design.
Their
Greensward Plan was announced in 1858 as the winning design. On his return from the South, Olmsted began executing their plan almost immediately. Olmsted and Vaux continued their informal partnership to design
Prospect Park in Brooklyn from 1865 to 1873.
That was followed by other projects. Vaux remained in the shadow of Olmsted's grand public personality and social connections.
The design of Central Park embodies Olmsted's social consciousness and commitment to egalitarian ideals. Influenced by Downing and his own observations regarding social class in England, China, and the American South, Olmsted believed that the common green space must always be equally accessible to all citizens, and was to be defended against private encroachment. This principle is now fundamental to the idea of a "public park", but was not assumed as necessary then. Olmsted's tenure as Central Park commissioner was a long struggle to preserve that idea.
Leader of Sanitary Commission
In 1861 Olmsted took leave as director of Central Park to work in Washington, D.C., as Executive Secretary of the
U.S. Sanitary Commission, a precursor to the
Red Cross
The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure respect for all human beings, and ...
. He tended to the wounded during the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...
. In 1862 during Union General
George B. McClellan
George Brinton McClellan (December 3, 1826 – October 29, 1885) was an American soldier, Civil War Union general, civil engineer, railroad executive, and politician who served as the 24th governor of New Jersey. A graduate of West Point, McCl ...
's
Peninsula Campaign, Olmsted headed the medical effort for the sick and wounded at
White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...
plantation in
New Kent County, which had a boat landing on the
Pamunkey River.
On the home front, Olmsted was one of the six founding members of the
Union League Club of New York.
In addition to the above, Olmsted helped to recruit and outfit three African-American regiments of the
United States Colored Troops in New York City. He contributed to organizing a
Sanitary Fair, which raised one million dollars for the
United States Sanitary Commission.
Olmsted worked for the Sanitary Commission to the point of exhaustion: "Part of the problem was his need to maintain control over all aspects of the commission's work. He refused to delegate and he had an appetite for authority and power."
By January 1863 a friend wrote: "Olmsted is in an unhappy, sick, sore mental state ... He works like a dog all day and sits up nearly all night ... works with steady, feverish intensity till four in the morning, sleeps on a sofa in his clothes, and breakfasts on strong coffee and pickles!!!"
His overwork and lack of sleep led to his being in a perpetual state of irritability, which wore on the people with whom he worked: "Exhausted, ill and having lost the support of the men who put him in charge, Olmsted resigned on Sept. 1, 1863." Yet within a month he was on his way to California.
Gold mining project in California
In 1863, Olmsted went west to become the manager of the newly established
Rancho Las Mariposas-Mariposa gold mining estate in the
Sierra Nevada mountains in
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
. The estate had been sold by
John C. Fremont to New York banker,
Morris Ketchum Morris Ketchum (February 5, 1796 – January 1, 1880) was a prominent American banker and financier of the 19th century.
Early life
Ketchum was born on February 5, 1796 at Waterford in Saratoga County, New York. He was the fourth child of Amos ...
, in January of that same year. The mine was unsuccessful. "By 1865, the Mariposa Company was bankrupt, Olmsted returned to New York, and the land and mines were sold at a sheriff's sale."
In 1865, Olmsted was appointed to the first board of commissioners for managing the newly established
Yosemite Valley and Mariposa Grove land grants.
U.S. park designer
In 1865, Vaux and Olmsted formed Olmsted, Vaux & Co. When Olmsted returned to New York, he and Vaux designed
Prospect Park; suburban Chicago's
Riverside parks; the park system for
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...
;
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at th ...
's grand necklace of parks; and the
Niagara Reservation
Niagara Falls State Park is located in the City of Niagara Falls in Niagara County, New York, United States. The park, recognized as the oldest state park in the United States, contains the American Falls, the Bridal Veil Falls, and a portion ...
at
Niagara Falls
Niagara Falls () is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the border between the province of Ontario in Canada and the state of New York in the United States. The largest of the three is Horseshoe Fall ...
and
Belle Isle in Detroit.
Olmsted not only created numerous city parks around the country, he also conceived of entire systems of parks and interconnecting parkways to connect certain cities to green spaces. Some of the best examples of the scale on which Olmsted worked are the park system designed for
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...
, one of the largest projects; the system he designed for
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at th ...
, and the park system designed for
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...
, which was one of only four completed Olmsted-designed park systems in the world.
Olmsted was a frequent collaborator with architect
Henry Hobson Richardson
Henry Hobson Richardson, FAIA (September 29, 1838 – April 27, 1886) was an American architect, best known for his work in a style that became known as Richardsonian Romanesque. Along with Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright, Richardson is one ...
, for whom he devised the landscaping schemes for half a dozen projects, including Richardson's commission for the
Buffalo State Asylum
The Richardson Olmsted Campus in Buffalo, New York, United States, was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1986. ''Note:'' This includes , , an''Accompanying three photographs''/ref> The site was designed by the American architect Henry Ho ...
. In 1871, Olmsted designed the grounds for the
Hudson River State Hospital for the Insane in
Poughkeepsie
Poughkeepsie ( ), officially the City of Poughkeepsie, separate from the Town of Poughkeepsie around it) is a city in the U.S. state of New York. It is the county seat of Dutchess County, with a 2020 census population of 31,577. Poughkeepsie ...
.
In 1883, Olmsted established what is considered to be the first full-time landscape architecture firm in
Brookline, Massachusetts. He called the home and office compound ''Fairsted''. It is now the restored
Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site
Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site is a United States National Historic Site located in Brookline, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston. Frederick Law Olmsted (1822–1903) is recognized as the founder of American landscape architecture ...
. From there Olmsted designed Boston's
Emerald Necklace, the campuses of
Wellesley College,
Smith College,
Stanford University and the
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...
, as well as the 1893
World's Fair
A world's fair, also known as a universal exhibition or an expo, is a large international exhibition designed to showcase the achievements of nations. These exhibitions vary in character and are held in different parts of the world at a specif ...
in Chicago, among many other projects.
Conservationist
Olmsted was an important early leader of the
conservation movement
The conservation movement, also known as nature conservation, is a political, environmental, and social movement that seeks to manage and protect natural resources, including animal, fungus, and plant species as well as their habitat for the ...
in the United States. An expert on California, he was likely one of the gentlemen "of fortune, of taste and of refinement" who proposed, through Senator John Conness, that Congress designate
Yosemite Valley
Yosemite Valley ( ; ''Yosemite'', Miwok for "killer") is a glacial valley in Yosemite National Park in the western Sierra Nevada mountains of Central California. The valley is about long and deep, surrounded by high granite summits such as Hal ...
and
Mariposa Big Tree Grove
Mariposa is the Spanish word for butterfly.
It may also refer to:
Geography Canada
* Mariposa, Ontario, former municipality of the southwest corner of Victoria County
* Mariposa, Saskatchewan, a rural municipality
* Mariposa (fictional town), ...
as public reserves. This was the first land set aside by Congress for public use. Olmsted served a one-year appointment on the Board of Commissioner of the state reserve, and his 1865 report to Congress on the board's recommendations laid an ethical framework for the government to reserve public lands, to protect their "value to posterity". He described the "sublime" and "stately" landscape, emphasizing that the value of the landscape was not in any one individual waterfall, cliff, or tree, but in the "miles of scenery where cliffs of awful height and rocks of vast magnitude and of varied and exquisite coloring, are banked and fringed and draped and shadowed by the tender foliage of noble and lovely trees and bushes, reflected from the most placid pools, and associated with the most tranquil meadows, the most playful streams, and every variety of soft and peaceful pastoral beauty."
In the 1880s he was active in efforts to conserve the natural wonders of
Niagara Falls
Niagara Falls () is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the border between the province of Ontario in Canada and the state of New York in the United States. The largest of the three is Horseshoe Fall ...
, threatened with industrialization by the building of electrical power plants. At the same time, he campaigned to preserve the
Adirondack region
The Adirondack Mountains (; a-də-RÄN-dak) form a massif in northeastern New York with boundaries that correspond roughly to those of Adirondack Park. They cover about 5,000 square miles (13,000 km2). The mountains form a roughly circular d ...
in upstate New York. He was one of the founders of the American Society of Landscape Architects in 1898.
Olmsted was also known to oppose park projects on conservationist grounds. In 1891, Olmsted refused to develop a plan for
Presque Isle Park in
Marquette, Michigan
Marquette ( ) is a city in Marquette County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 20,629 at the 2020 United States Census, which makes it the largest city in the Upper Peninsula. Marquette serves as the seat of government of Marquett ...
, saying that it "should not be marred by the intrusion of artificial objects."
Later life, death and legacy
In recognition of his services during the Civil War, Olmsted was elected a Third Class member of the Massachusetts Commandery of the
Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States (MOLLUS) on May 2, 1888, and was assigned insignia number 6345. Olmsted's election to MOLLUS is significant in that he was one of the few civilians elected to membership in an organization composed almost exclusively of military officers and their descendants. In 1891 he joined the Connecticut Society of the
Sons of the American Revolution
The National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution (SAR or NSSAR) is an American congressionally chartered organization, founded in 1889 and headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky. A non-profit corporation, it has described its purpose ...
by right of his descent from his grandfather Benjamin Olmsted who served in the 4th Connecticut Regiment in 1775.
In 1895,
senility
Dementia is a disorder which manifests as a set of related symptoms, which usually surfaces when the brain is damaged by injury or disease. The symptoms involve progressive impairments in memory, thinking, and behavior, which negatively affec ...
forced Olmsted to retire. By 1898 he moved to
Belmont, Massachusetts, and took up residence as a patient at the
McLean Hospital, for whose grounds he had submitted a design which was never executed. He remained there until his death in 1903. He was buried in the
Old North Cemetery, in
Hartford, Connecticut.
After Olmsted's retirement and death, his sons
John Charles Olmsted
John Charles Olmsted (1852–1920), was an American landscape architect. The nephew and adopted son of Frederick Law Olmsted, he worked with his father and his younger brother, Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., in their father's firm. After their fath ...
and
Frederick Law Olmsted Jr., continued the work of their firm, doing business as the
Olmsted Brothers
The Olmsted Brothers company was a landscape architectural firm in the United States, established in 1898 by brothers John Charles Olmsted (1852–1920) and Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. (1870–1957), sons of the landscape architect Frederick Law O ...
. The firm lasted until 1980. Many works by the Olmsted sons are mistakenly credited to Frederick Law Olmsted today. For instance, the Olmsted Brothers firm did a park plan for
Portland, Maine
Portland is the largest city in the U.S. state of Maine and the seat of Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 in April 2020. The Greater Portland metropolitan area is home to over half a million people, the 104th-largest metropo ...
, in 1905, creating a series of connecting parkways between existing parks and suggesting improvements to those parks. The oldest of these parks, Deering Oaks, had been designed by City Engineer William Goodwin in 1879 but is today frequently described as a Frederick Law Olmsted designed park.
A residence hall at the
University of Hartford was named in his honor.
Olmsted Point Olmsted Point is a viewing area off Tioga Pass Road in Yosemite National Park which offers a view south into Tenaya Canyon, giving, in particular, a view of the northern side of Half Dome, Clouds Rest, and a view of Tenaya Lake to the east. The gra ...
, located in
Yosemite National Park
Yosemite National Park ( ) is an American national park in California, surrounded on the southeast by Sierra National Forest and on the northwest by Stanislaus National Forest. The park is managed by the National Park Service and covers an ...
, was named after Olmsted and his son Frederick.
Frederick Olmsted is known as the "father of American Landscape Architecture."
Olmsted's principles of design
Drawing influences from English landscape and gardening, Olmsted emphasized design that encourages the full use of the naturally occurring features of a given space, its "genius"; the subordination of individual details to the whole so that decorative elements do not take precedence, but rather the whole space is enhanced; concealment of design, design that does not call attention to itself; design that works on the unconscious to produce relaxation; and utility or purpose over ornamentation. A bridge, a pathway, a tree, a pasture: any and all elements are brought together to produce a particular effect.
Olmsted designed primarily in the pastoral and picturesque styles, each to achieve a particular effect. The pastoral style featured vast expanses of green with small lakes, trees and groves and produced a soothing, restorative effect on the viewer. The picturesque style covered rocky, broken terrain with teeming shrubs and creepers, to express nature's richness. The picturesque style played with light and shade to lend the landscape a sense of mystery.
Scenery was designed to enhance the sense of space: indistinct boundaries using plants, brush and trees as opposed to sharp ones; interplay of light and shadow close up, and blurred detail further away. A vast expanse of greenery at the end of which lies a grove of yellow poplar; a path that winds through a bit of landscape and intersects with others, dividing the terrain into triangular islands of successive new views.
Subordination strives to use all objects and features in the service of the design and its intended effect. It can be seen in the subtle use of naturally occurring plants throughout the park. Non-native species planted for the sake of their own uniqueness defeat the purpose of design, as that very uniqueness draws attention to itself where the intention is to enable relaxation: utility above all else.
Separation applies to areas designed in different styles and different uses enhancing safety and reducing distraction. A key feature of Central Park is the use of
sunken roadways which traverse the park and are specifically dedicated to vehicles as opposed to winding paths designated specifically for pedestrians.
A beautiful example of this mix of principles is seen in the
Central Park Mall, a large promenade leading to the Bethesda Terrace and the single formal feature in Olmsted and Vaux's original naturalistic design. The designers wrote that a "'grand promenade' was an 'essential feature of a metropolitan park'"; however, its formal symmetry, its style, though something of an aberration, was designed so as to be subordinate to the natural view surrounding it. Wealthy passengers were let from their carriages at its south end. The carriage would then drive around to the Terrace, which overlooked the Lake and Ramble to pick them up, saving them the trouble of needing to double back on foot. The Promenade was lined with slender elms and offered views of Sheep Meadow. Affluent New Yorkers, who rarely walked through the park, mixed with the less well-to-do, and all enjoyed an escape from the hustle and bustle of the surrounding city.
In popular culture
* In
Apple TV+'s 2019–2021 series ''
Dickinson'',
Timothy Simons portrays Olmsted in episode 4 of the second season, "The Daisy Follows the Soft Sun".
* In June 2022, a baby
giraffe at the
Seneca Park Zoo in Rochester, New York, was named Olmsted, in recognition of the designer of Seneca Park and other parks in Rochester.
* In the 2019 film Motherless Brooklyn, Alec Baldwin’s character says that everyone should thank Olmsted for what he did to develop New York.
See also
*
List of Olmsted works
*
Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site
Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site is a United States National Historic Site located in Brookline, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston. Frederick Law Olmsted (1822–1903) is recognized as the founder of American landscape architecture ...
*
Charles Loring Brace
*
Landscape designer
*
History of gardening
The early history of gardening is largely entangled with the history of agriculture, with gardens that were mainly ornamental generally the preserve of the elite until quite recent times. Smaller gardens generally had being a kitchen garden as t ...
* ''
Devil in the White City''
References
Notes
Sources and further reading
*
*
*
*
*
* Ott, Jennifer. ''Olmsted in Seattle: Creating a Park System for a Modern City'' (Seattle: History Link and Documentary Media, 2019
online review* Roper, Laura Wood (1973). ''FLO: A Biography of Frederick Law Olmsted''
online edition*
*
*
Schlesinger, Arthur M. Sr. "Was Olmsted an Unbiased Critic of the South?" ''Journal of Negro History'' (1952), 37#2 pp. 173–18
in JSTOR*
Sears, Stephen W. (1992), ''To the Gates of Richmond: the Peninsula Campaign''. New York: Ticknor and Fields
*
Wilson, Edmund (1962)
''Patriotic Gore: Studies in the Literature of the American Civil War'' New York: Oxford University Press. Chapter VI is ''Northerners in the South: Frederick L. Olmsted, John T. Trowbridge''.
* Muccigrosso, Robert, ed., ''Research Guide to American Historical Biography'' (1988) 5:2666-74
* Diamant, Rolf and Carr, Ethan (2022), ''Olmsted and Yosemite: Civil War, Abolition, and The National Park Idea''. Amherst, Massachusetts: Library of American Landscape History
Primary sources
* Beveridge, Charles E., ed., Lauren Meier, ed., and Irene Mills, ed., Frederick Law Olmsted: Plans and Views of Public Parks. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2015. xvi, 429 pp.
* Availabl
onlinefrom the Internet Archive.
* Availabl
onlinefrom the University of North Texas.
Olmsted, Frederick Law (1860). ''A Journey in the Back Country''* (2 vols.)
New York: Mason BrothersThe British edition was titled ''Journeys and explorations in the cotton kingdom. A traveller's observations on cotton and slavery in the American slave states. Based upon three former volumes of journeys and investigations ...''
London: S. Low, Son & Co.This book is an abridgement of "his three earlier volumes, 'A Journey in the Seaboard
laveStates' (1856), 'A Journey Through Texas' (1857) and 'A Journey in the Back Country' (1860).
Masur, Louis P., "Olmsted's Southern Landscapes," ''The New York Times'', July 9, 2011
* Availabl
onlinefrom the Internet Archive.
* Olmsted, Frederick Law. "The Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Big Tree Grove" (1865
* Robert Twombly, ed. (2010): "Frederick Law Olmsted: Essential Texts", WW Norton & Company, New York.
External links
*
Frederick Law Olmsted A bibliography by The
Buffalo History Museum
The National Association for Olmsted ParksThe Frederick Law Olmsted Society of RiversideKCET Departures Olmsted Plan
''Olmsted and America's Urban Parks'', 2010 documentary; supplemental materials a
OlmstedFilm.org''Booknotes'' interview with Witold Rybczynski on ''A Clearing in the Distance'', October 17, 1999.Frederick Law Olmsted''Explore Capitol Hill''
Fine Arts Garden Cleveland Museum of Art
Frederick Law Olmsted: Designing America(2014 documentary)
*
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Olmsted, Frederick Law
1822 births
1903 deaths
American landscape and garden designers
American landscape architects
American urban planners
Burials in Connecticut
Druid Hills, Georgia
McLean Hospital people
The Nation (U.S. magazine) people
People from Belmont, Massachusetts
People from Staten Island
People of the American Civil War
Phillips Academy alumni
Russell Sage Foundation
Social critics
Writers from Hartford, Connecticut
Central Park