Keney Park

Keney Park, Job #00803, Hartford, CT

Olmsted Archives

Quick Facts

Location:

Hartford, CT

Significance:

Olmsted Designed Park

MANAGED BY:

The City of Hartford

In 1893, patriarch of one of Hartford’s most prominent families, Henry Keney, gifted 533 acres of land to the city, with the only requirement being the land be used as a park. Three years later, Olmsted, Olmsted & Eliot were hired to design Keney Park as part of their Hartford Park System. Opening in 1896, the Olmsted design didn’t truly take place until the 1920s.

Keney Park would get an additional 160-acres in 1924 after the Keney Trustees transferred ownership to Hartford. Now Olmsted Brothers, John Charles Olmsted based his plan for Keney Park off Charles Eliot’s originals. They intended for the park to have a series of regional landscapes like meadows and forests.

Firm associate Percival Gallagher was tasked with overseeing the construction of the park’s pastoral scenery, supervising the transportation of over half a million yards of earth, and planting native foliage. The varied spaces are linked by a meandering carriage drive and with three gates, the surrounding residential neighborhood benefits from Keney Park.

Source: "Keney Park," The Cultural Landscape Foundation

For more information and primary resources, please visit:
Olmsted Research Guide Online
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Olmsted Online