Frederick Law Olmsted in Rochester

Excerpted from the Executive Summary of the 2009 City of Rochester Historic Parks Survey, A Survey of Rochester’s Historic Parklands, prepared for The City of Rochester by Bayer Associates,  The Landmark Society of Western New York (Katherine Eggers Comeau), and Charles A. Birnbaum, The Cultural Landscape Foundation.

In the 19th century, Rochester was a well-known horticultural center, with publications by such figures as George Ellwanger, Patrick Barry, and James Vick that had a wide circulation. In 1888, interest in landscape and horticulture was formalized by the founding of a Rochester Park Commission of twenty-one members and the solicitation of expertise from leaders in the management of public parks, including Frederick Law Olmsted of Brookline, Massachusetts. 

By 1881, the City had hired Olmsted to design the property given by Ellwanger and Barry that became Highland Park. Over the next 31 years, Olmsted and his successor firms designed nearly 300 plans for the large parks, square, and parkways, continuing after Olmsted’s death in 1903 through the design of the University of Rochester campus in 1930. 

The Olmsted legacy includes parks for which Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr. was the sole designer. Designs of other Rochester parks were proposed by his sons and other firm members, including John Olmsted, Frederick Law Olmsted Jr., and Charles Eliot, who guided the Parks Department in their decisions about landscape design into the first decades of the 20th century. Variously, plans are credited to Olmsted Brothers, Olmsted Firm, Olmsted, Olmsted & Eliot, but the Olmsted legacy established by the founder remained the guiding spirit.

Charles A. Birnbaum wrote, in the preface to the “Survey of Rochester’s Historic Parklands, 

“The Rochester Olmsted design legacy is part of an elite group - it was one of just four American cities that can boast a comprehensive system designed by Olmsted, Sr. (the other cities include Buffalo, NY, Boston/Brookline, MA, and Louisville, KY). In addition to this significant distinction, along with Louisville, it is the longest involvement of the Olmsted firm, thus insuring that all three Olmsteds contributed to the overall design.” 

We are surely fortunate to have such a group of parks included in this legacy. It is our privilege and responsibility to acknowledge them, care for them, and encourage access to them.