olmsted history center - Gardening
Frederick Law Olmsted ( – ) was an American landscape architect, journalist, social critic, and public administrator. He is considered to be the father of landscape architecture in the United States. Frederick Law Olmsted came to the profession of landscape architecture late in his career.
Understanding the Context
For thirty years after 1837 he served as an administrator-first of New York's Central Park, then of the U.S. Sanitary Commission, and finally of the Mariposa Mining Company in California. Frederick Law Olmsted was an American landscape architect who designed a succession of outstanding public parks, beginning with Central Park in New York City. Before age 43, Olmsted was a sailor, farmer, writer—then he pioneered landscape architecture.
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Key Insights
Starting with Central Park in 1858, Olmsted and his firms touched nearly 6,000 landscape designs. Olmsted’s ideas still shape how we design and value public space in America. OlmstedOnline.org provides an accessible, digital platform to showcase the Olmsted legacy of designed landscapes. The Olmsted Network intends to build out and populate this geographically-based website over time with selective inclusion and/or links to archive materials both nationally and locally. Olmsted’s subsequent career as a landscape architect was built on the observation that the majority of American people would soon be living in or around cities.
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He had long since given up the notion of his scientific farming days that the quality of American life would be determined by the farmer. Although Frederick Law Olmsted (1822–1903) is considered one of America's pioneer landscape architects, he came to the profession only after experimenting and dabbling in many different fields. A newspaperman, social commentator and sometime farmer, Olmsted had many interests early in life. While Frederick Law Olmsted (1822-1903), born 200 years ago, is probably best known for his design of New York City's Central Park, the Connecticut native and his landscape architectural firm actually created many scenes of beauty nationwide.