CHAPTER I
. AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL PASSAGES 43
II. EARLY PLEASURE TOURS 64
III. STUDY AND READING 68
IV. FARMING 75
V. LANDSCAPING 84
VI. RELATIONS WITH DOWNING 88
VII. LANDSCAPE OBSERVATIONS FROM TRAVEL 94
VIII. SOUTHERN TRIPS, 1852-1854 111
IX. REPUTATION IN 1857 117
_PART III_
AMERICAN LANDSCAPE GARDENING IN 1857 121
ILLUSTRATIONS
FACING PAGE
FREDERICK LAW OLMSTED IN 1850 _Frontispiece_
THE FIVE FRIENDS IN NEW HAVEN DAYS 66 Charles Trask, Frederick J. Kingsbury, John Hull Olmsted, Charles Loring Brace, and Frederick Law Olmsted.
FACSIMILE OF LETTER WITH MR. OLMSTED’S EARLIEST SKETCH FOR IMPROVEMENT OF GROUNDS, 1847 84
FACSIMILE OF PETITION TO SECURE APPOINTMENT OF MR. OLMSTED AS SUPERINTENDENT OF CENTRAL PARK, 1857 120
LIST OF PAPERS AND DOCUMENTS
A sequential list of the more important papers included in this volume. Matter previously printed is shown by italic type.
Autobiographical Fragments:
PAGE
Passages in the Life of an Unpractical Man 45
Hints Aidful to Elementary Self-Education in Design 58
Selections from Letters to Members of Family and Boyhood Friends, 1845-1851 64
Account by Mary Cleveland Perkins Olmsted of Life on Staten Island, and Meeting of Olmsted and Perkins Families 78
Selection from Paper by John Charles Olmsted read before Boston Society of Landscape Architects, 1916: The Influence of A. J. Downing upon the Designers of Central Park 88
Letter from F. L. Olmsted to Andrew Jackson Downing, 1850 89
Selections from _Walks and Talks of an American Farmer in England_, Edition of 1852 94
Selection from _A Journey in Texas_, Edition of 1857, and _A Journey in the Back Country_, Edition of 1860 111
Petition that F. L. Olmsted be Appointed Superintendent of the Central Park, 1857, signed by Washington Irving and others _facing_ 120
Letter from Asa Gray recommending F. L. Olmsted 120
Selection from Article by F. L. Olmsted on _Parks_, Appleton’s New American Cyclopedia, 1861 125
A Letter from F. L. Olmsted to a Park Commissioner of Rochester, N. Y., 1888, regarding the Status of Landscape Architecture in the United States 127
Frederick Law Olmsted
Landscape Architect
## PART I. BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES
1822-1903
## PART I
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES
1822-1903
1822: Born at Hartford, Conn., son of Charlotte Law Apr. 26 (Hull) and John Olmsted, prosperous merchant of Hartford.
1826: “At school to Mrs. Jeffry.”--J. O.[1] April
1828: “Fredk. has been to Mrs. Jeffry’s school 3 quarters, Feb. 18 to Mrs. Smith’s one and a half, to Miss Rockwell’s one. Books at Miss R’s: _Webster’s Spelling Book_, _Testament_, _Jack Hallyard_, _Peter Parley’s Tales_, _Juvenile Instructor_.”--J. O.
1829-1830: “To Rev. Z. Whittemore, No. Guilford.”--J. O.
1830: “Returned home and began at Grammar School, Sep. 27 Hartford.”--J. O.
1831: “To Ellington High School.”--J. O. May 18
Oct. 8 “To school and board with Rev. Joab Brace, of Newington.”--J. O. Remained there with visits home and trips with Father till June 30, 1836, fitting for college.
1836: “To Rev. G. C. N. Eastman at Saybrooke.”--J. Jul. 1 O.
Sep. 1 “To Grammar School with John.”--J. O.
Dec. 1 “To Mr. Perkins’ school, East Hartford. Now ready to enter college.”--J. O.
1837: “To New York, consulted Dr. Wallace for weak eyes. Advised sea bathing. To Saybrook with Rev. Eastman again for 3 months. Advised to give up college on account of eyes.”--J. O.
Nov. 20 “To Andover, Mass., to study engineering with Prof. Barton. (Nov., 1838 Mr. Barton removed to Collinsville, Conn. & Fredk. with him. Staid till May 1840)”--J. O.
1838: Frederick at Andover. Summer vacation journey to White Mountains.
1839: Father took Frederick to Washington. Home Dec. 9 Dec. 24.
1840: Went to work for Benkard and Hutton, French Aug. 18 dry goods importers, New York City. Left their employ March, 1842.
1842: Attended lectures at Yale.
1843: Sailed before the mast for Canton in the bark Apr. 23 “Ronaldson.” Vessel back in New York Apr. 15, 1844.
1844: Spent some months at his Uncle Brooks’ farm in Cheshire (Conn.) learning farming.
1845: Spent summer on Mr. Joseph Welton’s farm at Waterbury and winter at New Haven attending lectures.
1846: Went to the farm of Mr. George Geddes, “Fairmount,” April near Syracuse, N. Y., to study farming. Home in October.
1847: About to begin independent farming at Sachem’s Jan’y Head, Guilford, Conn., on a small farm purchased for him by his Father.
June An “honorary member” of the Class of 1847 at Yale.
1848: Father bought for Frederick the Ackerly farm, Jan. 1 South Side, Staten Island, where he soon after established himself, continuing to operate it until 1854.
Oct. 20 Frederick writes “full of enthusiasm on tree planting and nurseries.”
1849: Farming and beginning a nursery business.
1850: Sailed from New York on the “Henry Clay” with Apr. 30 his brother and Charles Brace. Returned by “City of Glasgow” with brother Oct. 24. “Expenses of journey about $300 each. 2 weeks in Germany, 2 weeks in Belgium & France, 1 week in Ireland, 3 weeks in Scotland, remainder in England.”--J. O.
1850: Corresponding Secretary of the Richmond County Agricultural Society.
1851: Farming and writing. Visited A. J. Downing at Newburgh.
1852: Published _Walks and Talks of an American Farmer Feb. 18 in England._ (G. P. Putnam & Co., New York.)
Dec. 11 Started on Southern tour.
1853: Letters to the New York _Times_ began, giving his Feb. 16 impressions of the “Seaboard Slave States.” (Published as a book of that title, 1856.)
Nov. 10 “Fredk. and John started on their journey to Mexico and California.”--J. O. (Frederick again as correspondent for the _Times_. Letters edited with the help of his brother and published as a book _A Journey in Texas, 1857_.)
1854: Frederick considered settling in Texas, but returned, traveling on horseback from New Orleans to Richmond. Home summer of 1854. (Trip home published as _A Journey in the Back Country_, 1860.)
1855-1856: With George William Curtis, went into partnership with Dix and Edwards in publishing business. Edited _Putnam’s Magazine_. Publishing business failed, leaving Olmsted and Curtis liable for considerable amount of bad debts.
1856: Sailed with sister Mary in “Arabia” for Europe, Feb. 13 mainly on publishing business. Spent greater part of time in London, but travelled also on continent in Italy and Germany. Mar. 12, proceeding from London to Paris with American Envoy’s dispatches.
1857: In New York trying to wind up Dix and Edwards Feb. 10 publishing business. “Trial balance still not ready.”
Sep. 11 Appointed Superintendent of the Central Park in New York.
1857-1858: At request of Calvert Vaux, collaborated with him in the preparation of a design for the Central Park to submit in the recently opened competition.
1858: Olmsted and Vaux awarded first prize for their Apr. 28 plan submitted under the title “Greensward.”
May 17 Frederick Law Olmsted appointed Architect in Chief of the Central Park.
1859: Scope of the work extended by enlargement of Apr. 2 Park area to 110th Street, by act of Legislature.
Jun. 13 Married in Bogardus House, Central Park (by Mayor Tiemann) Mary Cleveland (Perkins) Olmsted, widow of his brother John Hull Olmsted, thus becoming step-father to her children: John Charles, Charlotte, and Owen. Moved later in the summer to the old convent building at Mt. St. Vincent in the Park.
Sep. 28 Sailed for Liverpool on the “Persia,” having been granted leave of absence and a letter of credit for £100 by the Park Commissioners “to procure in Europe material and information of advantage to Central Park.”
Dec. 5 Sailed from Queenstown on the “America,” arriving home Dec. 18.
1860: The management of Central Park investigated by the State Legislature. (Vindicated.)
Furnished to Appleton’s _New American Cyclopedia_ by request first article on _Parks_, in any American encyclopedia. (Volume published 1861.) See _post_ p. 125.
Mar. 29 At Hartford with Mr. Vaux to look at the grounds of the Hartford Retreat for the Insane, for which advice and plan subsequently given.
1860: Olmsted and Vaux appointed “Landscape Architects April and designers to the Commissioners North of 155th Street.”
Jun. 14 A son, John Theodore Olmsted, born. Died in infancy.
Aug. 6 Thrown from carriage and thigh broken. Park work directed from bed and later from litter.
1861: _Journeys and Explorations in the Cotton Kingdom_ in 2 volumes published in London, a compilation of the three Southern journeys already published in America in 1856, 1857, and 1860, and widely circulated as accurate information on the state of the South.
Jan’y Resignation presented to Park Commissioners (on account of political interference) and withdrawn, “all carefully kept mum so as not to embarrass the proceedings at Albany.”
Apr. 17 “My resignation, and all that, is before a Committee this week.” Withdrawn.
June Leave of absence granted to go to Washington as Secretary of the United States Sanitary Commission, which he helped to organize, and of which he was (under the Presidency of Dr. Bellows) chief executive officer until 1863. Connection with Central Park still retained.
Oct. 28 Daughter, Marion Olmsted, born at Mt. St. Vincent.
1862: Considering possibility of securing post of U. S. April Commissioner of Agriculture and Statistics (bureau proposed) as alternative to landscape gardening business.--F. L. O. letter to J. O.
Oct’r In New York to work on the Park, “object and only justification for being away from Washington.”
Offered office of Street Commissioner by the Mayor of New York. Accepted “on condition that I am not to be trammelled in appointments, etc.” Not consummated.
Dec. 15 Frederick met his father in New York. “Fredk’s Washington address, 185 South B St., corner of W. 9th, back of Smithsonian. Office San. Com., Adams House, 244 F St.”--J. O.
1862-1863: Joined with Dr. Bellows, Wolcott Gibbs, and others in the formation of the Union League Club, to perpetuate the ideals of the United States Sanitary Commission.
1863: Trip to Cleveland, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Chicago, Spring etc., on business for Sanitary Commission. “Obvious want of a pleasure-ground” in Chicago noted.
May 14 Olmsted & Vaux resign as Landscape Architects of Central Park. Resolution of confidence passed.
Summer Obliged to withdraw from Sanitary Commission, owing to overwork.
Interested with Charles Eliot Norton and others in a project for founding a weekly review. Later, during his absence in California this project developed into the _Nation_.
Aug. 10 Offered Superintendency of the Mariposa Mining estates in California. Accepted.
Sep. 14 Sailed without family in the “Champion” for California. Arrived at San Francisco Oct. 11.
Late Personal property and professional library burned Fall while in storage at Staten Island Farm.
1864: Joined by family at the Mariposa Estates, Bear Early Valley. Spring
Honorary A.M. from Harvard University, on account of work for United States Sanitary Commission.
Summer Olmsted family in Yosemite camping. Mr. Olmsted made trip Eastward through the High Sierras accompanied by John Charles Olmsted and Professor Brewer of the State Geological Survey.
Sep. 27 Appointed Commissioner of Yosemite and Mariposa Big Tree Grove by Governor Low of California under act of Congress granting same as State Reservation. Made President of the Commission.
Oct’r “Engaged in plans for laying out a cemetery at Oakland--and have been consulted as to a park there.” (Report on Mountain View Cemetery published 1865.)
Manager’s General Report of the Mariposa Estates published in New York.
1865: Appointed on Committee for California State Jan’y Agricultural Fair.
Considers undertaking a newspaper in San Francisco “instead of going with Vaux on the Brooklyn Park.”
Mar. 12 Writes to C. Vaux: “I am getting on with my cemetery--I have made preliminary reconnoissance for large piece of ground held by College of California which I propose to lay out upon the Llewellyn plan--I have given plans for improvement of a country seat.”
July Offers from Godkin and Norton for work on _Nation_ and Committee of Loyal Publication Society if he will return to New York.
Jul. 19 Olmsted & Vaux reappointed Landscape Architects to the Board of Commissioners of Central Park.
Jul. 24 “I have undertaken to lay out a village and grounds for the College of California which will occupy what time I have to spare for a month or two.”--F. L. O. to J. O.
Jul. 26 Notified of election as General Secretary of American Freedmen’s Union. Refused.
Aug. 31 Proposes to accept Central Park appointment of which he has just “last night received word from Vaux” (telegraph out of order) and to resign from managership of Mariposa Estates.
Sep’r Advising on park for San Francisco.
Olmsted & Vaux appointed to design the Brooklyn Park.
Sep. 28 Writes to C. Vaux: “I shall bring work enough to keep Miller busy for fully a month after arrival, I think. I only work out the park plans crudely here, so as to have your help on it. The profit of it I intend to share with you--also to put O. & V. to the engraved cemetery plan if you approve. This latter also to be finished in New York.”
Nov. 17 Officially selected to report to the Board of Supervisors a plan for a public park for San Francisco.
Nov. 22 Arrived with family in New York from California.
1866: Report upon a Projected Improvement of the Estate of the College of California at Berkeley, Olmsted, Vaux & Co., printed.
Report on Columbia Institute for the Deaf and Dumb, Olmsted, Vaux & Co., printed, Washington, D. C.
Pamphlet: A Few Things to be thought of before proceeding to plan buildings for the National Agricultural College, printed.
Spring Olmsted family residing at Amos Street, Clifton, near Vanderbilt’s Landing, Staten Island, for Mr. Olmsted’s convenience in ferrying across to Brooklyn for the Park work.
Mar. 31 Report on Public Pleasure Grounds for San Francisco submitted. (Afterwards printed.)
May 29 Olmsted, Vaux & Co. reappointed Landscape Architects to the Board of Commissioners of Prospect Park, Brooklyn. Preliminary report of the Landscape Architects was published 1866.
1867: Park work for New Britain, Conn.
Honorary A.M. Amherst College.
June Advice to Charles Eliot Norton on subdivision into lots and street connections of property near Harvard University. (Advice also in 1868 and 1869 and later). At this time a strong friendship was formed between the Norton and Olmsted families, and Mr. Olmsted’s visits to the Nortons were among the few personal visits he made.
Oct. 4 Visit to Newark, N. J., to give advice on park, followed by report. (Later printed.)
1868: Preliminary report upon the proposed suburban village at Riverside near Chicago, Olmsted, Vaux & Co., printed.
Reports for Brooklyn Park Commission on Washington Park, Parade Grounds, and Street Plans, printed.
Report on proposed city park for Albany, O. V. & Co., printed.
Feb. 8 Plan to C. E. Norton, Harvard University, for connecting walks through University grounds, vicinity Oxford Street and Norton property.
Aug’t To see Barry and “learn what had become of the Rochester Park project.” Also with Calvert Vaux visited Vassar College to give advice as to plan.
Aug. 14 “I have a business invitation today from Buffalo and shall splice it into the Chicago expedition in some way.” Aug. 25, addressed public meeting in Buffalo in regard to Park project.
Aug. 29 Mentions jobs in letter to C. Vaux: Buffalo, Brooklyn, Chicago-Riverside.
1869: Brooklyn park work very absorbing. (H. W. S. Cleveland employed by Mr. Olmsted on the Brooklyn work at this time.) Riverside going on. Preliminary report for Buffalo park printed.
(About) Conversation at Cataract House with Mr. William Sep’r Dorsheimer and others regarding the preservation of Niagara Falls.
1870: Reports: on park for New Britain; to Mr. J. S. Blatchford (Boston) on Needham Hundreds (suitability for residential land subdivision); to Maine Agricultural College (printed); and on park site for Hartford (probably 1870).
Address before American Social Science Association at Lowell Institute, Boston: Public Parks and the Enlargement of towns (printed).
Mar. 5 Appointed on the Commission for the Improvement of Staten Island, with H. H. Richardson and others.
Apr. 5 Advice to Amherst College.
Apr. 7 Olmsted, Vaux & Co. agreement with Chicago South Park Commission.
June O. V. & Co. Report to the Committee on Park Improvement, Fall River.
Jun. 2 O. V. & Co. letter refers to “Recent changes of administration in Central Park, and change of organization now occurring with pending legal proceedings threatening from day to day a suspension of work on the Brooklyn Parks under our superintendence.”
Jul. 22 Advice to C. K. Hamilton in regard to proposed resort or “exposition” on Staten Island.
Jul. 24 Son, Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., born.
Aug. 2 Letter of advice to General Meigs in regard to planting of National Cemeteries.
Nov. 30 Olmsted and Vaux resigned from their Central Park duties after their advice had been disregarded and politics rendered their situation impossible.
1871: Reports for Chicago South Park and Staten Island improvement printed.
Mar. 11 Olmsted, Vaux & Co., asked to prepare a plan for park in Philadelphia and preliminary sketch submitted.
July “My age is 50 years, residence New York City, occupation Landscape Architect.”--F. L. O. in deposition.
At work on Tarrytown Heights subdivision.
Sep’r Shared house in 45th St. with friends, and spent there winter of 1871-1872.
Oct’r Advice on subdivision at Irvington, N. Y. for Cyrus W. Field. (Olmsted, Vaux & Co. Memorandum of suggestions printed.)
Nov. 23 Olmsted and Vaux reappointed Landscape Architects of New York Department of Public Parks.
1872: Report on new suburban district of Tarrytown Feb’y Heights, Olmsted, Vaux & Co. (printed).
May Report on sites for Trinity College, Hartford.
May 29 Appointed a Commissioner of the New York Department of Public Parks, and elected President and Treasurer of the Board. (Calvert Vaux appointed Landscape Architect.) Resigned and reappointed Landscape Architect, Oct. 24, C. Vaux becoming Consulting Landscape Architect.
Oct. 18 Partnership between Olmsted and Vaux dissolved for reasons of mutual convenience.
Late Moved to house at 209 West 46th Street, permanent Fall residence and office until 1883 (although most of time subsequent to 1880 actually spent in Boston).
Dec. 13 Report to Massachusetts General Hospital on sites for its “Retreat for the Insane.” (McLean Asylum.)
Dec’r Memorandum from account sheet “Vaux in a/c with O. & V.” Brooklyn; Fall River Park Dept.; Central Park; Chicago expenses; Philadelphia expenses; Poughkeepsie expenses; Providence Park; W. B. Ogden; Trinity Bridge; Tillinghast; F. E. Church (place on Hudson); Chase; Barr; McCormick. Undetermined a/c: Phila. Park; Tarrytown extra work; Finance Dept.; Mr. Gillette, Kaatskill.
1873: Year marked by very active work on the Central Park and the preparation of a large number of special reports, including reorganization of the Keepers force, Statistical Report of the Landscape Architect with historical survey of Central Park, etc.
Preliminary visit to Mount Royal, Montreal. This was made the occasion of a pleasure trip in which Mrs. Olmsted and the H. H. Richardsons
## participated.
Jun. 17 Attended Rhododendron Show of Massachusetts Horticultural Society on Boston Common as representative of the N. Y. Dept. of Public Parks.
Aug. 17 Reports on examination of land in Waverly for McLean Asylum,--3d report on subject.
Sep. 17 Presented resignation as Landscape Architect of the N. Y. Dept. of Public Parks. Consented “to resume service under the Commission upon a modified arrangement, vindicating my professional standing and securing me against another similar experience.”
1874: Coöperated with Mr. Weidenmann on Hyde estate. Checks deposited for services Oakwood Cemetery (Syracuse), Amherst (Mass.) Common, Yale College, and for grounds of Mr. Lord, Morristown, N.J.
On salary from Buffalo Park Commission and United States Capitol.
Several special reports on Central Park printed.
Jan’y Report submitted to Senator Morrill on Public Grounds at Washington, including Capitol grounds and area to Lafayette Square. Mr. Olmsted’s Capitol work was facilitated by his coöperation and friendship with Edward Clark, who held the office of Architect of the Capitol.
April Design for United States Hotel grounds, Saratoga Springs.
May 1 Entered into working arrangement with Mr. Jacob Weidenmann, landscape architect, then of New York, to use his office facilities and secure occasional coöperation. Draft of announcement reads: “Mr. Olmsted and Mr. Weidenmann can at all times be commanded for any business of their common profession.”
May 14 Planting plan and report for Jeffersonville (Ind.) U. S. Army Depot.
Jun. 27 Report to Hartford Insane Retreat on west portion of grounds.
Nov’r Engaged for advice on the development of Mount Royal Park, Montreal, and furnished written instructions during progress of construction (1874-1876).
Dec’r Deposited check from Johns Hopkins University for plan.
1875: Engaged in giving advice for the laying out of a “summer village” at Chatauqua Point.
Plan for the new stairways and terraces west of the U. S. Capitol favorably reported by the Committees of Public Buildings and Grounds and adopted by Congress.
Reports for Buffalo and New York City parks (Riverside Park with Vaux) printed. Revised article on _Parks_ in Appleton’s Cyclopedia published.
May Gives advice as to lay-out of grounds and placing of buildings, Trinity College, Hartford, to replace plans previously given, but mislaid.
May 6 Requested by the Q. M. General of the War Dept. to furnish plans for the “improvement of its grounds in a tasteful manner” of the Schuylkill Arsenal, Philadelphia.
June Plans for McLean Asylum lay-out requested, on site in Waverly recommended.
After graduation from Sheffield Scientific School at Yale, John Charles Olmsted became an apprentice with Frederick Law Olmsted.
Jul. 31 Visit, consultation and advice to Park Commission, Providence, R. I.
Oct’r-Nov’r In correspondence with Boston Park Commissioners about the Boston Park system.
Nov. 5 “The Landscape Architect is hereby requested to prepare a plan for laying out the Annexed district of the 23d and 24th Wards,” City of New York.
1876: Prepared for Centennial Exposition, Philadelphia, a map of Buffalo showing “late additions to the plan.”
Mar. 3 Report of Advisory Board on plans of the new Capitol at Albany (Olmsted, Eidlitz, and Richardson). Later printed. The friendship of the three collaborators in this Albany work became lifelong.
March-June Reports for Johns Hopkins University on “Clifton Estate” site.
Apr. 8 Letter to Boston Park Commission on proposed park sites: Charles River embankment, Back Bay, Jamaica Pond, West Roxbury.
May 31 Accepted unpaid office under the New York State Survey, from which he resigned in August because he was advised that it was doubtful if he could legally hold office under both New York City and State. Political enemies caused his salary as Landscape Architect to the N. Y. Dept. of Public Parks to be withheld, for which he entered suit. Suit won 1877 on ground that the Landscape Architect of the City of New York was not an officer.
Aug. 4 Reinstated by resolution of the Commissioners of the N. Y. Dept. of Public Parks, a resolution to discontinue his services failing to pass.
Nov. 13 Deposited check from Buffalo State Asylum for grounds.
Nov. 15 Submitted Preliminary Report of the Landscape Architect and the Civil and Topographical Engineer (Croes) upon the laying out of the 23d and 24th Wards (New York City). Report “introductory to a series of plans for laying out the new wards of the city. The first of these can, if desired, be laid before the Board at its next meeting, a second and third are in preparation and the whole series is in progress of study.” All later printed, including report on local steam transit routes (1877).
Dec’r Advice to Baltimore on Washington Monument grounds.
1877: Construction work on the United States Capitol proceeding according to his plans.
July Mentions Baltimore, Washington, and Montreal as going on.
Jul. 15 “I am warmly engaged in the fight upon the (N. Y. State) Capitol just now, having been most of the time the last two weeks in Albany.”
Dec. 12 Board of Commissioners of the N. Y. Dept. of Public Parks orders Mr. Olmsted’s salary, withheld by Comptroller on account of charges against him, to be paid.
Dec. 26 Board grants him leave of absence for three months without pay on account of ill health.
1878: Removed by the Board as Superintendent of the Jan. 5 Bureau of Design of the N. Y. Dept. of Public Parks, on alleged grounds of economy, it being stated in the resolution of removal that his services might later be availed of as necessary. The conclusion of a long and harassing political persecution.
Jan. 8 Sailed for Europe for four months, where he travelled about accompanied by J. C. Olmsted. Places noted as being visited: Birkenhead Park, London Parks, Bruges Park, The Hague, Amsterdam, Frankfort, Munich, Venice, Florence, Pisa, Genoa, Milan, Como, Maggiore, Turin, Macon, Dijon.
May Commissioners of the Connecticut State Capitol authorized to consult Mr. Olmsted about laying out Capitol grounds at Hartford. (Reports in July and August.)
July Writes Édouard André in regard to his professional work, mentioning as especially important the Arboretum at Boston and the Capitol at Washington.
Summer Spent with E. L. Godkin in Cambridge in order to work out plans for Arboretum with Professors Gray and Sargent.
Dec’r Memorial for preservation of Niagara Falls in course of receiving signatures. Charles Eliot Norton writes to Mr. Olmsted Dec. 23, “Carlyle signs.”
Articles of agreement between Mr. Olmsted and the Park Department of Boston in regard to “Back Bay Park.”
1879: Writes to É. André, “I am doing but little professionally, Jun. 6 my most important active work being the Capitol Grounds at Washington.” Work also on Boston Parks (Back Bay), Arboretum, and campaign for protection of Niagara Falls.
Summer Lived partly in Brookline and partly with E. L. Godkin in Cambridge.
Jul. 30 Report on development of Rockaway Point as amusement resort, following visits earlier in July to Rockaway and Coney Island.
Aug’t Advice to J. Letchworth, Auburn, N. Y., as to his country place.
Sep’r Vacation trip to New Brunswick and Quebec.
Oct. 10 Writes to Charles Eliot Norton that he has met four of the N. Y. State Niagara Commissioners and the Premier and members of the Council of Ontario, and his general scheme has been approved. James T. Gardiner, Director of the State Survey, had been instructed by joint resolution to see what measures were expedient for the preservation of Niagara and to prepare a project and associate with him Mr. Olmsted. Report published 1880.
Nov’r Deposited check for plan of “Belleview” suburb of Newark, N. J.
Nov. 3 Visit to Boston, chargeable each one third to Arboretum, Schlesinger (estate, Brookline), and Boston Park Department.
Nov. 19-21 Visit to Utica and Albany, chargeable to State Survey.
Nov. 22 Visit to Washington, chargeable to U. S. Capitol grounds.
1880: “My business lies now more in Boston than New York.” Main work still Boston Parks, Capitol at Washington, and Niagara.
Read at meeting of American Social Science Association, at Saratoga, paper: A Consideration of the Justifying Value of a Public Park. (Published 1881.)
Advice as to trees in Jerome Park, Sheepshead Bay Race Course.
Jul. 14 Asked by C. A. Dana of the New York _Sun_ to write a series of “a dozen or 20 or 30” articles on the best private parks, grounds, or estates, in all parts of the country. Declined.
1881: Numerous visits to North Easton on Memorial work.
Report for Mount Royal Park printed.
Work for Boston Parks proceeding, including suggestions for The Improvement of Muddy River. (Printed.)
Jan’y Professional letterhead: F. L. Olmsted 209 West 46th St. J. C. Olmsted New York
Apr. 21 Deposited check from James T. Gardiner for report on Niagara to State Survey Commission.
Jul. 1 Bill to Montauk Association for advice as to disposition of cottages in summer colony at Montauk.
Sep. 27 Advice on the forest treatment of Phillips estate at Beverly, Mass.
1881-1882: Residence mainly in Brookline. Winter
1882: Reports printed relating to U. S. Capitol at Washington, Albany State Capitol, and Belle Isle Park, Detroit.
Feb’y Published: Spoils of the Park with a few leaves from the deep laden note book of “a wholly unpractical man,” a reminiscent account of political interference in the management of Central Park. Just after this, he wrote to a friend; “You can have no idea what a drag life had been to me for three years or more. I did not appreciate it myself until I began last summer to get better. The turning point appears to have been an abandonment of New York.... I have done much hard and steady work. The pamphlet of which you speak was mostly written after midnight and did not prevent me from getting regularly five or six hours refreshing sleep. I enjoy this suburban country beyond expression and in fact, the older I grow, find my capacity for enjoyment increasing. We have had great trials and agitations in the last year but the result of the whole has been with all tranquillizing. I am to turn sixty with two grandsons.”
Nov. 9 Letter to J. C. Olmsted mentions jobs going on: Washington Capitol, Detroit Park, Boston Parks (Back Bay and Commonwealth Avenue), Providence (land subdivision), North Easton (memorial--Ames), Newport (Easton’s Beach and private estates), Albany State Capitol, Buffalo and Bridgeport Parks, Niagara Reservation. Jobs in 1882 also on Boston & Albany R. R. station at Auburndale (Mass.), Aspinwall Land Company subdivision, Summit (N. J.) Improvement Association, Quincy (Mass.) Library, Weld estate at Dedham, H. H. Hunnewell estate at Wellesley, and for many other private clients.
1882-1883: In Brookline, at Taylor house on Dudley Street. Winter
1883: Bought house at 99 Warren Street, Brookline, which became permanent home and office.
Charles Eliot an apprentice with Mr. Olmsted (until 1885).
Work going on for Boston Parks and Arboretum, Detroit Park, U. S. Capitol, Goddard land subdivision at Providence, Cushing’s Island in Portland Harbor, Boston and Albany R. R. (stations at Beacon Street, Allston, Brighton, Faneuil, Newton, Newtonville, West Newton, Riverside, Brookline, Reservoir, Chestnut Hill, Newton Center and Palmer), Massachusetts General Hospital (McLean) Insane Asylum at Waverly, Lawrenceville School, Amherst College, and Madison (now Colgate) University, and many private clients.
## Active assistance to successful conclusion of campaign
for the preservation of Niagara Falls, in which Mr. Olmsted was interested, with Messrs. Potter, Dorsheimer, Norton, and others, since 1869.
1884: John Charles Olmsted taken into full partnership. Firm name: F. L. & J. C. Olmsted.
## Participation in campaign for preservation of
Adirondack region.
Work recorded for Amherst College, University of Vermont, Groton School, Memorial Park at New London, Boston and Albany Railroad, Town of Brookline (Aspinwall Avenue region), Brookline Country Club (drainage), Narragansett Casino Company. Among others, advice given for estates at Lenox, Stockbridge, Beverly, Waltham, Mass. Land subdivisions planned at Chestnut Hill (Mass.), Newport, Providence, Yonkers, and five or six other places.
Jan’y “Went with Richardson the architect to Maiden and determined the site of the proposed memorial Library.”
Mar. 11 “I expect to leave Friday evening at latest with my preliminary plan for Belle Isle.”
May 24 Mentions in letter to J. C. Olmsted jobs on Trenton and Boston parks, Capitol at Washington, Lawrenceville School, Chestnut Hill, Cypress Street, and Brookline stations, and visit with McKim to Stillman place above Sing Sing.
Sep. 23 Wrote to Boston Park Commissioners on lay-out of a park at West Roxbury (later Franklin Park).
Dec’r Asked to be one of two experts to conduct the first Civil Service examination in landscape gardening given by New York Department of Public Parks for position “superintendent of gardening.”
1885: Work for City of Boston (Back Bay, Wood Island, West Roxbury Parks, and Massachusetts Avenue), Town of Brookline (new street lay-out Harvard Street--Aspinwall Avenue region), Amherst and Smith Colleges, Groton and Lawrenceville Schools, Boston and Albany Railroad (Palmer and Wellesley Hills), McLean Asylum, Cairn Memorial at North Easton, Billings Library at Burlington, and fifteen or twenty private clients.
1886: List of clients during the year includes: U. S. Capitol, Niagara, Stanford University, a Society at Amherst, Lawrenceville School, Groton School, McLean Asylum, Newport Hospital (land subdivision), Rotch Memorial Church, B. & A. Palmer Station, Brookline Country Club, Boston and Buffalo Parks, Bridgeport Park, New York Riverside Park, a half dozen land subdivisions in Brookline (including Beacon Street region) and Buffalo, Vanderbilt Tomb, Andrew Carnegie, and about thirty other private clients.
Report: Notes on the Plan of Franklin Park and related matters, printed.
Mar. 16 Had just been to Lenox where he had “been advising a Vanderbilt colony.”
Aug’t Started for California, in connection with proposed university for Governor Stanford. En route, visited Minneapolis parks and saw H. W. S. Cleveland there.
Sep. 29 “Site settled at last” for new University at Palo Alto.
Sep. 30 In San Francisco and “hope to see the park” (twenty years after his original design of 1866). Visit followed by brief report (printed).
Oct. 17 Reached Boston from California.
1887: Work going on especially for Boston and Buffalo Parks, two land subdivisions in Brookline and one or two in Buffalo, and Arboretum for Dr. Webb at Shelburne, Vt. Studies being made for a report on National Zoo at Washington.
General plan for the improvement of the Niagara Reservation, by F. L. Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, printed by the State of New York.
Interested by Professor Sargent in the founding of _Garden and Forest_, a journal to promote the landscape art. During the illness of the directing editor Professor Sargent, Mr. Olmsted undertook much work in connection with the magazine.
Jan. 26 From Salt Lake City, having visited Black Rock, Garfield, and Lake Point, writes to C. F. Adams, President of Union Pacific Railroad in regard to proposed hotel development at Garfield.
Feb’y Sounded in regard to advice to Canadian Commissioner of Niagara. (Letter of advice sent in August.)
Apr. 20 Appointed at a meeting of Board, Department of Public Parks of New York City, Landscape Architect Advisory to the Board. Subsequently visits made and advice given mainly in regard to Morningside and Riverside Parks. Connection suspended by Mr. Olmsted, July 1887. General Plan for Morningside Park, with Calvert Vaux, printed. Received check July 5, for “consultation as to Riverside etc. last year.”
Oct’r Trip to California in connection with the development of Leland Stanford Jr. University.
Dec’r Report in letter to chairman of the Park Commission, St. Catherine’s, Ontario, for Montebello Park.
1888: Major public work, for parks of Buffalo and Rochester, N. Y.; Leland Stanford Jr. University; park system report (with J. C. Olmsted) for Pawtucket, R. I. Advice or plans given for Redstone Mining town, and land subdivisions at Brookline (Corey Hill), Chestnut Hill, Readville, and Swampscott, Mass., Newport, R. I., Buffalo, and several other places, and for proposed hotel at Lake Sunapee; also for a large number of private estates and for Groton and Lawrenceville Schools. Requests for designing two cemeteries refused.
Aug’t Engaged in preliminary discussion of proposed Biltmore estate for Mr. George W. Vanderbilt, at Asheville, N. C. Survey begun in October.
1889: Henry Sargent Codman taken into partnership. Firm name: F. L. Olmsted & Co.
Advice to New York Department of Parks against Speeding Track in Central Park.
Advice on park matters given to Arlington, Newton, and Plymouth, Mass., and Providence, R. I., besides Boston and Brookline (Muddy River improvement). Work for Leland Stanford, Groton School, Leake and Watts Orphan House, memorial chapel at Falmouth, and B. & A. Wellesley station; Perry Park (Prospectus 1890) and Lake Wauconda subdivisions near Denver, “World’s End” development on Boston Harbor, numerous other subdivisions, and a large number of private estates, including “Biltmore”.
Report on Central Park published: Observations on the Treatment of Public Plantations, prepared with J. B. Harrison at instance of West Side Improvement Association, New York City.
Feb. 25 Read paper at Brookline Club: Our Roads and What They are leading us to.
April Advice to the Governor of Alabama in regard to State Capitol grounds at Montgomery.
June “Getting figures for marble fountain on Capitol terrace” at Washington. Also visited Biltmore.
Aug. 6 Addressed as Consulting Landscape Architect, New York Department of Public Parks.
Sep’r Asked to give his views on sites in New York City for World’s Columbian Fair, and aided movement against proposed location in Central Park.
Nov’r Advice to Lynn (Mass.) Park Commissioners in regard to Lynn Woods. (Report on this subject printed 1892.)
Dec’r Advice to Newburgh on Downing Park. Calvert Vaux associated on report.
Earl of Meath suggested that Mr. Olmsted go to London to advise Meath’s commission on the beautifying of the old burial grounds of London.
1890: “My office is much better equipped and has more momentum than ever before.” “I am at this time (with my partners) the landscape architect of twenty works of considerable importance, that is to say, I do not include in that ordinary private grounds. Nine of these twenty are large public parks of cities; two, government works; three, works of commercial corporations; one, of a benevolent corporation, and six, private undertakings of such character as to make them matters of public interest, operations on them being systematically reported in the newspapers.” (The works of commercial corporations alluded to were land subdivisions, and the cities to which advice on park matters had been rendered particularly at this time included Boston,--Marine and Wood Island Park reports printed 1890,--Rochester, New York City, Wilmington, and Hartford. The most important private work was Biltmore, the new Vanderbilt estate at Asheville, N. C, the remainder mentioned being other Vanderbilt, Rockefeller and Twombly estates.)
Collection of United States Sanitary Commission Papers arranged by Mr. Olmsted, and presented by him with an introductory statement (printed), to the Loyal Legion of Boston.
Issued leaflet in regard to the Yosemite: Governmental Preservation of Natural Scenery.
June Report: Project of Operations for the Improvement of the Forest of Biltmore, sent Mr. Vanderbilt.
July Consulted by Superintendent of West Point as to course to be pursued in future development of West Point.
Aug’t In Chicago reporting on a site for the World’s Fair.
Dec’r Advice to Marblehead on proposed shore road.
1891: Deposited check for services on National Zoological Jan. 16 Park.
Jan. 20 Writes to Frederick Kingsbury: “Our Southern circuit includes, or has recently included, Richmond, Montgomery, Knoxville, Nashville and Louisville [parks]. In the far West we have works in progress, two in Colorado and one in California. Altogether I have to do a great deal of long journeying ... but personal activity on the ground ... is the part of the work I can least turn over to my partners.” As to the Biltmore estate, he says: “I have been giving it practical form and have each division of the scheme in operation.” The other Vanderbilt commissions are mentioned, then:--“Our business is constantly increasing and in such a way that it is impossible to get the additional assistants for it, being of a class of which there are but few accomplished in the world; so we are always personally under an agitating pressure and cloud of anxiety. The most serious point just now is Chicago” (World’s Fair). Chicago and Biltmore claimed the major part of his time. He also gave personal attention to the site of the Soldiers’ Memorial Arch at Concord, N. H., to Presque Isle at Marquette, Mich., and to the Rochester Parks.
March Invited by the Brooklyn Park Commissioners to examine the plantations in Prospect Park.
Oct’r Advice to Elmwood Cemetery, Detroit, suggesting “certain general principles as to future management.”
Nov’r Letter to Mr. Newlands on subdividing property in Washington, D. C, and streets in the new Connecticut Avenue district.
1892: Consulted by the United States Government on the development of the reservation at Hot Springs, Ark.
March Trip from Biltmore to Knoxville to Louisville to Chicago to Rochester to Boston.
Apr. 2 Sailed for Europe for rest, accompanied by Philip Codman, F. L. Olmsted, Jr., and Marion Olmsted. Illness while abroad prevented his doing much travelling for professional study himself, although he moved somewhat about England and France. He directed the studies of his pupils Philip Codman and F. L., Jr., with constant interest, and he was able to make a study of pleasure boating on the Thames as a basis for the scheme of water activities on the Lagoons of the World’s Fair, subsequently carried out.
Jun. 16 In a letter to his office from England, he asks after the following jobs: World’s Fair, Louisville, Marquette, Whitelaw Reid, Twombly, and Newport.
Jul. 30 Writes his partner, Harry Codman: “I assume that very soon after my return it will be desirable, extremely desirable, that I should take a very long railroad journey, Rochester, Chicago, Louisville, Kansas City (parks), Biltmore, Atlanta and various places nearer home. I did not mention Milwaukee and Marquette.”
Oct. 11 In Chicago on World’s Fair business, having just returned from Europe. He feels the need for opening a Western office and mentions being about to leave for Kansas City.
Oct. 21 Present at the Dedication Ceremonies of the World’s Fair and received one of the special medals “struck in recognition of the services of the Architects, Artists and Designers of the World’s Columbian Exposition ... the first time in the history of the country that such services have been publicly recognized.”--Letter of invitation from D. H. Burnham.
Nov’r At Biltmore for conference with Mr. Vanderbilt. Mentions in a letter to J. C. Olmsted that he feels “guilty of neglect of Boston work.”
1893: Report printed on the occupation of the new site for Columbia College (New York), by F. L. O. and W. R. Ware.
Article on Mr. Olmsted by Mrs. Van Rensselaer published in the _Century Magazine_ with Mr. Olmsted’s consent and based on information which he mainly furnished.
Jan’y Sudden death of Harry Codman, on whom Mr. Olmsted had “thrown a good deal” of the World’s Fair work, made it necessary for Mr. Olmsted “to jump in and shoulder the Chicago work with others for a time, and so manage them that with good luck nobody complained and I was even myself not extremely dissatisfied with the results.”
Feb’y Charles Eliot taken into partnership with F. L. Olmsted & Co. On March 15 the firm name was changed to Olmsted, Olmsted & Eliot.
Feb. 17 Writes to J. C. Olmsted that he considers of major importance the following jobs: Boston parks, Boston Metropolitan parks (brought in by Charles Eliot), Columbian Exposition, Biltmore estate, Bay Ridge Parkway in Brooklyn, the parks in Louisville, Kansas City, Milwaukee, Rochester, Buffalo, the two Newport places, Lenox, Monmouth County place, N. J. He adds “I wish that we could drop the three last and everything else.” ... “I do think that we shall have to decide on throwing up a lot of our business. I am not to be depended on (Mr. Olmsted was then nearly seventy-one years old).... Common prudence requires that you should lay out your course not counting on me.” From this time on Mr. Olmsted declined personal responsibility for all private work, counting Biltmore because of its magnitude a semi-public undertaking.
Mar. 23 A guest of honor at the dinner[2] given to D. H. Burnham and other artists of the World’s Columbian Exposition by fellow architects and the City of New York. During the speaking Charles Eliot Norton said: “Of all American artists, Frederick Law Olmsted, who gave the design for the laying-out of the grounds of the World’s Fair, stands first in the production of great works which answer the needs and give expression to the life of our immense and miscellaneous democracy.” Mr. Burnham said: “Each of you knows the name and genius of him who stands first in the heart and confidence of American artists, the creator of your own parks and many other city parks. He it is who has been our best adviser and common mentor. In the highest sense he is the planner of the Exposition--Frederick Law Olmsted. No word of his has fallen to the ground among us since first he joined us some thirty months ago. An artist, he paints with lakes and wooded slopes; with lawns and banks and forest-covered hills; with mountain-sides and ocean views. He should stand where I do to-night, not for his deeds of later years alone, but for what his brain has wrought and his pen has taught for half a century.”
Apr. 10 Slept in Cleveland to break the journey to Chicago (has had to give up sleeping on the train) and writes to J. C. O. “you might send me also the Harvard College map. I may have a chance to study it and be prepared for discussion with Eliot.”
June LL.D. degree from Harvard and LL.D. also from Yale. The Harvard degree was conferred by President Eliot in the following words: _Fredericum Law Olmsted, qui, ruris specie in urbes introducta, casas pauperum, domus feliciorum, ædificia publica, exornavit, æque saluti et delectationi civium omnium consuluit._
Sep’r Charles Eliot “is now in the West as my alternate for various professional consultations with Milwaukee, Louisville, Kansas City, and other corporations. John travels less than the rest of us, being in direction of the office in which there are fifteen to twenty draughtsmen and clerks, the preparation of work for whom over-fully occupies him. I have come to greatly dread traveling.... I suppose that as long as I live I shall be forced to make long journeys to meet Boards, Legislative Committees, etc., as, although the young men may be my superiors, they cannot testify with the weight of experience that I bring.”
Oct. 18 Writes back to his office about the Hot Springs matter (on which there had been government misunderstanding) while on “a bad piece of Richmond and Danville R. R.” on his way to Biltmore.
Oct. 24-Nov. At Biltmore “mainly engaged on the Arboretum.” 20
Nov. 23 At Atlanta in connection with the proposed Cotton Exposition, at the instance of Mr. Joel Hurt.
Dec. 30 Formal letter to Mr. Vanderbilt about the Biltmore Arboretum, outlining general matured scheme and enclosing the announcement printed in the _Lyceum_ in 1891 regarding the Arboretum.
A list of the firm’s public clients includes the following not mentioned by Mr. Olmsted in letters just quoted: College of N. J. (Princeton), Wilmington Park Commission, Trinity College, U. S. National Zoological Park at Washington, and Kirkwood Land Company, Atlanta.
1894: Reports, by Olmsted, Olmsted & Eliot, on Cambridge parks and Charles River Embankment printed.
Jan’y In Cincinnati on park work.
Feb’y Advising on Brooklyn Park. Last of the month in Biltmore.
March Visited Chicago South Parks and Milwaukee en route to Louisville. Wrote to J. C. O. that it is very desirable to make the firm favorably known in the South and “extend its connection.”
May Again in Biltmore.
Sep’r Advice to Town of Brookline “on main roads and public reservations in that part of Brookline bounded by Boylston St., Chestnut St., Goddard Ave., and Clyde St.” (printed.)
Nov’r-Dec’r The Olmsted family at Biltmore.
1895: At Biltmore. The last of May he left with his Feb’y-May family to come North, leaving his son F. L. O., Jr., as his professional representative.
Spring Portrait painted outdoors at Biltmore by John Singer Sargent.
June-July In Brookline. Some fragments of manuscript on the Hartford parks about this time were probably his last professional writings except letters of advice to F. L. O., Jr., at Biltmore in regard to the Summer and Fall work there.
Aug’t-Oct’r At Deer Isle, Maine, the family’s summer home, resting.
Sep’r Retired from professional practice.
Nov’r Sailed for England with Mrs. Olmsted, F. L. O., Jr., and Marion Olmsted.
Dec’r Wrote to F. L. O., Jr., in another part of England, as to plants, deer, etc. for Biltmore. Shortly after this his mind failed, after nearly forty years of
## active professional work.
1903: Aug. 28 Died.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] The entries marked “J. O.” are from the diary of his father, Mr. John Olmsted, who kept a most careful and accurate record of the doings and movements of his family.
[2] A full account of the dinner is given in Vol. 1 of _D. H. Burnham_, by Charles Moore, Houghton Mifflin Co., 1921.
## PART II. EARLY EXPERIENCES
THEIR CONTRIBUTION TO HIS LATER CAREER
## PART II. EARLY EXPERIENCES
THEIR CONTRIBUTION TO HIS LATER CAREER
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