Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr.

Frederick Law Olmsted April 26, 1822-August 28, 1903

Parents: John Olmsted d. 1873 and Charlotte Law Hull d. 1826

Wife Mary Perkins Olmsted, widow of his brother John Olmsted

Children: Adopted his wife's three sons whom she had with his late brother, John; had 2 children with Mary who survived infancy

1. John Theodore 1852
2. Marion
3. Owen Frederick 1857
4. daughter
5. Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. 1870-1957

Frederick Law Olmsted was a landscape architect. He co-designed numerous parks, including Central Park, New York City, and Woodland Park, Seattle, WA. In Washington, D.C. he worked on the landscape surrounding the United States Capitol building. He was the landscape architect on Stanford University in California. He is considered by many to be the father of American landscape architecture. Olmsted was also a journalist. Thirdly he played a major role in organizing and providing medical services to the Union Army in the Civil War.

Sources:

• http://kinnexions.com/kinnexions/cousinsj.htm#O
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Law_Olmsted

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Frederick Law Olmsted

During the later half of the nineteenth century cities in America underwent tremendous changes. More people were moving to the cities than ever before. It became evident that cities needed to be transformed into more hospitable places, and not just centers of commerce. No longer could the leaders of society or the City fathers sit back and watch the Cities operate. Towards the end of the 1850s city beautification became an issue that more and more leaders followed and explored. The theory behind this movement was that the more aesthetically pleasing you make a city, the more people will want to live in that city, and the happier they will be.

One of the greatest champions of the City Beautiful movement was Frederick law Olmsted. Olmsted was a the leading landscape architect of the post-Civil War generation, and has long been acknowledged as the founder of American landscape architecture.

Frederick Law Olmsted (1822 - 1903) was born in Hartford, Connecticut. He was raised as a gentleman, and while he never fully attended college, he did become a very learned man. When he was 18, Olmsted moved to New York to begin a career as a scientific farmer. Soon after that career failed to take off, he toured Europe with his brother, served as a merchant seaman, and traveled throughout the southern United States as a newspaper correspondent, publishing several books as an outgrowth of that career.

Through several connections gained as a columnist with the New Yorker, Olmsted was able to gain the appointed as the Superintendent of Central Park, New York City, in 1857, early in the development of that park project. He soon met Calvert Vaux, who had been working on a design for the park with Andrew Jackson Downing. When Downing died, Vaux approached OImsted about collaborating on the project. Their plan, titled Greensward, was ultimately selected as the winning design.

In 1859, Olmsted married the widow of his brother, John, and he adopted her children. In 1861, Olmsted obtained a leave of absence from his duties at Central Park so that he could serve as the Executive Secretary (the head of administration) of United States Sanitary Commission, an early version of the Red Cross, which was responsible for aiding the well-being of the soldiers of the Union Army during the Civil War. In 1863, he was offered the position manager at the Mariposa Estate in California, a gold mining venture north of San Francisco, and he left the organization. He later returned to New York when the project failed, joining Vaux in designing Prospect Park (1865-1873), Chicago's Riverside subdivision, Buffalo's park system (1868-1876), and the Niagara Reservation at Niagara Falls (1887).

In 1883, he departed New York City and relocated to Brookline, Massachusetts with his practice. Olmsted had begun work on a park system for the City of Boston, eventually he focused much of his time on the Emerald Necklace. This along with his work on the design of the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago were among the last of Olmsted's projects. In 1895, due to failing health Olmsted turned the firm over to his partners, and soon senility forced him to be confined in the McLean Hospital at Waverly, Massachusetts. Ironically, Olmsted had designed the grounds of the institution.

Frederick Law Olmsted died on August 28, 1903. The landscape architecture firm he founded was continued by his sons and their successors until 1980. Subsequently, his home and office were purchased by the National Park Service and opened to the public as museum. His papers are now housed in the Library of Congress, while the Olmsted National Historic site preserves the drawings and plans for much of Olmsted and his firm's body of work.

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Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr BIRTH 26 Apr 1822 Hartford, Hartford County, Connecticut, USA DEATH 28 Aug 1903 (aged 81) Brookline, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, USA BURIAL Old North Cemetery Hartford, Hartford County, Connecticut, USA Add to Map PLOT Section K / Lot 1-3, 12-14 MEMORIAL ID 19078 · View Source

Pictures by Russ Dodge & by Zeke

Architect, Medical Pioneer. He is considered the foremost American landscape artist of the 19th Century, and was largely responsible for the creation and present formation of New York City, New York's Central Park, of which he was Superintendent and chief architect. His landscape architectural work included Prospect Park in Brooklyn, Riverside Park in Manhattan, Chicago's South Side Park, and the grounds of the United States Capitol building. In 1892 he took over the project of laying out the grounds of the 1893 World Fair in Chicago when its first architect died. Olmstead completed the grounds in time for the Fair, which is now known as Jackson Park. During the Civil War, he resigned his post of Central Park superintendent to accept the post of Secretary General of the United States Sanitary Commission. In that capacity, he helped facilitate the Commission's work, which involved the distribution of tons of food and medical supplies to wounded soldiers and war refugees, evacuating wounded from battle areas, inspecting and maintaining standards in military hospitals, stocking and supplying hospital kitchens, and recruiting and maintaining thousands of nurses. The work he and the many workers under him saved thousands of soldiers' lives. He headed the Commission until 1863, when the exertions of his service caused him ill health, and he was forced to resign. Despite all his architectural accomplishments, Frederick Law Olmstead considered his Sanitary Commission position work the most important work of his life.

Bio by: Russ Dodge

Parents John Olmsted, 1791–1873 Charlotte Hull-Law Olmsted, 1800–1826

Spouse Mary Cleveland Perkins Olmsted, 1830–1921

Siblings John Hull Olmsted, 1825–1857 Mary Olmsted, 1832–1875 Ada Theodosia Olmsted, 1839–1846

Half Siblings Charlotte Olmsted, 1828–1832 Owen Olmsted, 1836–1838 Albert Harry Olmsted, 1842–1929

Children John Theodore Olmsted, 1860–1860 Marion Olmsted, 1861–1948 Frederick Law Olmsted' 1870–1957

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/19078/frederick-law-olmsted

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