The Olmsted Legacy

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The other day I went driving around the local parks to view foliage. I’ve noticed that the color change has really accelerated in the past week. Driving past the sign at Iroquois Park brought to mind Frederick Law Olmsted. It’s something we have in common with Central Park: Olmsted designed it! Last night I watched a documentary on the 19th century genius. He is rightfully considered the father of the state park system, the city parks, and the first landscape architect. These aren’t exaggerations, either: among his creations are Central Park and Prospect Park in New York City, the nation’s very first state park — Niagara Falls State Park — in 1885, parkways, and over 300 commissioned city park designs throughout the country. We have a series of Olmsted parks and parkways here in Louisville. The “granddaddy” of our parks is Cherokee Park. While I wasn’t here for the April 3, 1974 tornado Super Outbreak, I do remember reading the fears that Olmsted’s majestic work had been destroyed when a tornado turned the trees into toothpicks in Cherokee Park. The park looks fine now, thank you. In the documentary, Olmsted was quoted as saying the problem with his work is that he’d never see it. Landscape architecture, he pointed out, was a vision for how a park would look 40 years in the future, not “now.” One of the most famous houses in America, the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina, was also landscaped by Olmsted. He died in 1903 at the age of 81, and his sons carried on his work for generations. I’m so happy we have Olmsted parks here in town to enjoy! The photo is of the foliage showing on a road in Iroquois Park, which Olmsted designed.