America and beyond, get ready for Olmsted 200.
Of the legendary landscape architect, as well as journalist and social critic, biographer Justin Martin said Frederick Law Olmsted is “arguably the most important historical figure that the average American knows the least about.”
That will soon change. To help celebrate the bicentennial of his birth (April 26) and the achievements of his extraordinary life (1822-1903), Olmsted fans and admirers will be flocking to Washington, New York, Chicago, Boston, Hartford, and many parks across the nation.
Earlier this week, Steve Livengood let his Facebook readers know that the first version of the Olmsted200 website has been launched. Livengood would know. He serves on the Board of the National Association for Olmsted Parks, as well as being the Public Programs Director and Chief Guide for the United States Capitol Historical Society. In his biography of Olmsted, Martin thanks Livengood for giving him “a fresh perspective on a place he visited countless times.”
That place is, of course, the Capitol.
If ever Americans needed to see a beacon of better things to come, one that will make them feel good about not only the Capitol but the country itself, it is now. The fences that currently encircle the domed building, and the ice coating it, serve as a metaphor.
So perhaps in some small way, this launch of the Olmsted 200 website signals the turning of the page.
For now, though, there is a deep and wide chasm between what happened at the Capitol last month and the graceful and loving work Frederick Law Olmsted did there a century and a half ago.
Olmsted is certainly known for his work on the Capitol landscape, but he first made an impact in Washington during the Civil War. Martin tells us he found a sense of purpose when he arrived in 1861. Olmsted served as Executive Director for the US Sanitary Commission. Part of their work involved hospital ships. The vessels worked overtime on the Pamunkey River east of Richmond during McClellan’s march and retreat on the Peninsula towards the rebel capital in 1862.
Olmsted’s resume includes journalist. His dispatches during the South in the 1850s took three volumes to complete. The Civil War interrupted his and Calvert Vaux’s work on Central Park.
Olmsted returned to Washington in 1874. After an upbringing in New England, his wanderlust had taken him to Europe, the tour of the South (wonderfully captured by the late author Tony Horowitz) and parts of California. His designs would include Central Park, parks in other major cities, and a total of 500 commissions.
The Capitol Building in Washington had grown in size from its initial completion in 1824. L'Enfant's “pedestal” now looked too small. Commissioned by Congress, Olmsted went to work. His designs included a marble terrace for the west side. Perhaps we should call it the "Solemnly Swear Terrace," where every four years (weather permitting) the President-elect becomes the President.
Hard to say what L'Enfant would have thought of the city of Washington at that time, but we know Olmsted's thoughts. He wrote in a report the arrangement of federal buildings in Washington was “broken, confused and unsatisfactory.” He added, “What is wanting is a Federal bond.”
The landscape of the part of the nation’s capital that Americans and citizens of the world have known for some time now, extends from the Arlington House in Virginia, across the National Mall and up the hill to the Capitol. It’s the one place in the country where people come and marvel at its wonder. This landscape, which owes something to the work of Frederick Olmsted, brings us together. And this is something we certainly need right now.
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