BY JACI CONRY
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SPACE PRESERVATION On the bicentennial of Frederick Law Olmsted’s birth, the beloved public parks the landscape design pioneer created are as relevant and bucolic as they’ve ever been.
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ARNOLD ARBORETUM
I
In 1865, Fredrick Law Olmsted was 43
land and saw the need for preserving green and open spaces.
when he embarked upon his career
He was convinced of the positive benefits that informal
as a landscape architect. Despite his
natural settings could have on the psyche. The quality of
reduced tenure in the occupation,
life in America, according to Olmsted, could be improved by
Olmsted designed more parks and public
spending time in settings marked by spacious stretches of
recreation grounds than any professional
turf, quiet streams, and open groves of trees. Such contact
before him. Nearly two centuries later, he’s
with nature, he felt, could bring peace and refreshment to
recognized as the nation’s foremost parkmaker; a visionary
city dwellers, counteracting the intensity and stress of urban
who shaped American progress. Perhaps more than any other
life. A sense of ease could be fostered by the graceful flow
person, Olmsted affected the way America looks.
of open meadows in his large urban parks, which he coined
Born in Hartford, Connecticut in 1822, Olmsted was a self-taught journalist who covered slavery for the New York
Over the next 30 years Olmsted would go on to create the
Times. He was a farmer, a seaman, and executive secretary
first park sys ems and urban greenways in the United States,
of the U.S. Sanitary Commission, where he implemented an
designing, often with his business associate, Calvert Vax,
array of health practices.
some of the most beloved 19th century landscapes including
After these such diverse experiences, Olmsted turned his focus to landscape architecture. He had a deep love of the
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“democratic spaces” belonging to all Americans.
Central Park, The Biltmore Estate, Chicago’s Washington Park, and the grounds of the U.S. Capitol and the White House.
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