Last updated: June 11, 2024
Place
South Park Commission
Olmsted Archives
Quick Facts
One year after the 1869 creation of Chicago’s South Park Commission, tasked with overseeing the development of parks and boulevards along the southside of the Chicago River, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux were hired to design a park system that would exceed one thousand acres. Always focusing on natural features, Chicago’s Park System was built around a series of water features and included promenades, gathering places, and gardens.
Unfortunately, the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 would destroy Olmsted and Vaux’s drawings, along $5.4 billion dollars’ worth of damage. A new landscape architect, H.W.S. Cleveland, was hired after the fire to develop the Park system, with instructions to minimize any land alterations. Olmsted would have the opportunity to work on Chicago parks again during the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition.
Source: "South Park System," The Cultural Landscape Foundation
For more information and primary resources, please visit:
Olmsted Research Guide Online
Olmsted Archives on Flickr
Olmsted Online
Unfortunately, the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 would destroy Olmsted and Vaux’s drawings, along $5.4 billion dollars’ worth of damage. A new landscape architect, H.W.S. Cleveland, was hired after the fire to develop the Park system, with instructions to minimize any land alterations. Olmsted would have the opportunity to work on Chicago parks again during the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition.
Source: "South Park System," The Cultural Landscape Foundation
For more information and primary resources, please visit:
Olmsted Research Guide Online
Olmsted Archives on Flickr
Olmsted Online