Urban Parks

Fairmount Gardens in Philadelphia was the first urban park in the United States. In the early 19th century, parks became associated with the urban reform movements as a way to bring healthy living to the poor and working classes. Poet and editor William Cullen Bryant and landscape gardener Andrew Jackson Downing began to advocate for a public park for New York City in the 1840s.

In 1858, Frederick Law Olmsted won the contest to design New York’s Central Park. Visitors flocked to the park and it became a favorite place for many of the city’s residents. After the Civil War, Olmsted and his partner designed Prospect Park in New York, suburban Chicago’s Riverside parks and park systems for Buffalo, New York and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Olmsted’s design served as a model for urban parks across the nation and his influence is still evident in the design of urban parks today.

Central Park Map

Designed in 1858 by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, Central Park in New York City became a model for urban parks around the world.

Courtesy of New York Public Library

Frederick Law Olmsted

Known as the father of American Landscape Architecture, Frederick Law Olmsted’s design of Central Park inspired local governments around the world to build more urban parks.

Courtesy of the New Hanover County Public Library (North Carolina)

Fairmount Gardens

Philadelphia’s Fairmount Gardens with the Schuylkill Bridge in the background. This sketch was created in 1839.

Courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration

National Parks

At the same time that the urban parks movement began, interest was growing to conserve the dramatic landscapes of the West. President and native Ohioan Ulysses S. Grant signed a bill making Yosemite the first national park in 1872.

Courtesy of the New York Public Library

Boston’s Franklin Park

Boston’s largest park, Franklin Park, was designed in 1885 by Frederick Law Olmsted and his son, John Charles Olmsted, also a landscape designer.

Courtesy of the Boston Public Library