Timeline

1. 1822

   Frederick Law Olmsted born in Hartford, Connecticut, the son of a local businessman.

2. 1852

   John Charles Olmsted born in Switzerland, the son of Frederick Law Olmsted's brother John Hull Olmsted (1825-1857) and Mary Cleveland Perkins Olmsted (1830-1921).

3. 1857

   John Hull Olmsted died of complications of tuberculosis in Nice, France. His wife Mary and their children John, Charlotte, and Owen moved to Staten Island, New York.

4. 1858

   Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux's "Greensward" design competition entry for Central Park was awarded first prize in New York. The two began supervising construction of the park, for which Olmsted was superintendent and architect-in-chief, and Vaux chief designer. Central Park was one of many Vaux and Olmsted collaborations for commissions received jointly over the next seven years, including ones for a cemetery, a retreat, a street system, and private estates.

5. 1859

   Future Olmsted associate and public land preservation pioneer Charles Eliot born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the son of Charles W. Eliot, president of Harvard University from 1869 to 1909.

   Frederick Law Olmsted married his widowed sister-in-law, Mary Cleveland Perkins Olmsted. By virtue of the marriage, Olmsted's seven-year-old nephew John Charles Olmsted became Olmsted's stepson and adopted son.

6. 1861

   Olmsted, Vaux, George Waring, Jr., and others worked on landscape design for the grounds of the Hartford Retreat of the Insane in Connecticut, and Olmsted and Vaux prepared designs for the grounds of the Bloomingdale Asylum, New York City, and the Hillside Cemetery, Middletown, New York.

7. 1863-1865

   John Charles Olmsted studied the flora and fauna of the Sierra Nevada foothills and Yosemite area as his father managed the Mariposa Estate in California.

8. 1865

   While residing in California, Olmsted became commissioner for Yosemite and prepared a report that supplied the philosophical vision for a long-range plan for the park to be preserved as a government-managed and protected area, dedicated to wilderness preservation and public access and recreation for future generations.

   Longtime professional partners Vaux and Olmsted officially formed the firm Olmsted, Vaux & Co. Their company received commissions for parks and parkways, including Prospect Park in Brooklyn, parks in Buffalo and Chicago, and the residential suburb of Riverside, Illinois, among other projects.

9. 1869

   John Charles Olmsted gained additional topographical and geologic experience in western landscapes, participating in summer expedition led by Clarence King in Utah and Nevada along the 40th Parallel. He did so again in the summer of 1871.

10. 1870

    Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. (named Henry Perkins Olmsted at birth, but later renamed, and known through most of his life as "Rick") born on Staten Island, New York, the son of Frederick Law Olmsted and Mary Cleveland Perkins Olmsted.

11. 1872

    The Olmsted, Vaux & Co. and Vaux, Withers & Co. partnerships dissolved, as the partners pursued separate projects. Over the next decade, Olmsted carried on his practice in New York City in collaboration with other architects, horticulturalists, and engineers, among them landscape gardener Jacob Weidenmann and English architect Thomas Wisedell.

12. 1873-1875

    Planning work conducted for the U.S. Capitol grounds, U.S. Congress, Washington, D.C.

13. 1874

    Future Olmsted associates Percival Gallager and James Frederick Dawson born, in South Boston and Boston, respectively.

    The city of Montreal invited Olmsted to design Mount Royal Park, which marked the beginning of a long involvement by the Olmsted firm in projects in Canada.

14. 1875

    Future Olmsted associate Henry Vincent Hubbard born in Taunton, Massachusetts.

    After study at Yale's Sheffield Scientific School, John Charles Olmsted became apprenticed to his stepfather's in the elder's New York office.

15. 1877-1878

    John Charles Olmsted traveled to Europe and studied architecture in London.

16. 1878

    Olmsted engaged by Park Department of the City of Boston, Massachusetts, to create drawings and a preliminary plan for the Back Bay Park, Boston.

    Olmsted left his employment with the New York City parks system and began the transition away from New York and to New England as the future base for his family and the Olmsted landscape architectural firm.

17. 1881

    Future Olmsted associate Edward Clark Whiting born in Brooklyn, New York.

18. 1882

    Charles Eliot graduated from Harvard and undertook additional training in horticulture at Harvard's Bussey Institute.

19. 1883

    Frederick Law Olmsted established a family residence and headquarters for his firm in Brookline, Massachusetts. The Olmsted home and offices, called "Fairsted," became the center of collaborative work associated with the Olmsted name into the 1970s.

    Charles Eliot apprenticed with Olmsted and Co. firm. In the mid-1880s he assisted on Olmsted projects for the Back Bay Fens, Franklin Park, and Arnold Arboretum in Boston, and Belle Isle Park in Detroit. He designed Longfellow Park between the Cambridge home of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and the Charles River.

20. 1884

    John Charles Olmsted became an official partner with his stepfather in the F. L. & J. C. Olmsted firm.

21. 1885

    On Frederick Law Olmsted's advice, Charles Eliot traveled in Europe to observe landscapes and horticulture, much as Olmsted had done as a young man. Upon return in 1886, Eliot opened his own office.

    John Charles Olmsted carried out the planting plan prepared by his father for Reverend Endicott Peabody, founder of the Groton School for Boys.

    Olmsted retreated from terrace project of the U.S. Capitol, but continued as consultant regarding the grounds.

22. 1886

    In a period when the Olmsted firm was dealing with issues regarding the Back Bay Fens and U.S. Capitol projects, Leland Stanford proposed that the firm design the Stanford University campus. Olmsted made a site visit to California with son Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., and apprentice Henry Sargent Codman.

    Olmsted and Vaux hired on the Niagara Reservation project in New York.

23. 1887

    Olmsted and Vaux prepared plan for the improvement of Morningside Park, New York.

24. 1888

    The F. L. & J. C. Olmsted firm submitted plans for public recreation grounds for the city of Pawtucket, Rhode Island, and for a public park in Buffalo, New York. Calvert Vaux was reinstated as landscape architect for the New York City Department of Public Parks. The first issue of Garden and Forest magazine published.

25. 1889

    Olmsted trainee Henry Sargent Codman named partner in F. L. Olmsted and J. C. Olmsted & Co. Olmsted continued plans for the U.S. Capitol and undertook preliminary planning work with George W. Vanderbilt for his Biltmore Estate in North Carolina.

26. 1890

    Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., graduated from Roxbury Latin School.

    Olmsted made site visits for the Biltmore estate project in North Carolina, the National Zoological Park in Washington, D.C., and the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. F. L. & J. C. Olmsted & Co. appointed official architects for the Chicago exposition (Chicago World's Fair).

    Olmsted firm engaged in plant orders for G. W. Norton property, Louisville, Kentucky.

    Construction director Daniel H. Burnham issued instructions as to the character of the buildings representing the states for the World's Columbian Exposition.

27. 1891

    The Trustees of Reservations established under Massachusetts legislation, with leadership from Charles Eliot, thus promoting public land and historic preservation movements in Massachusetts.

    Central Park Menagerie recommended water fowl and waders for the lakes designed by the Olmsted firm for the World's Columbian Exposition (Chicago World's Fair).

28. 1892

    Olmsted consulted on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol and mentored young protégé William Platt, who died July 16 before he could fulfill plans to enter the Olmsted firm as an apprentice.

    Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., a student at Harvard, interned in the office of architect Daniel Burnham in Chicago as plans for the "White City" of the World's Columbian Exposition proceeded.

29. 1893

    Boston Metropolitan Park Commission established by Charles Eliot and Sylvester Baxter.

    World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, Illinois.

    Olmsted partner Henry Sargent Codman died January 13 at the age of twenty-nine, due to complications following an appendectomy, while working for the Olmsted firm on the World's Columbian Exposition and other projects.

    The firm of Olmsted, Olmsted & Eliot formed in March, with Charles Eliot as partner, as Frederick Law Olmsted Sr.'s health declined.

30. 1894

    Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., graduated from Harvard College, and took up on-site work for the Olmsted commission at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina. Fellow Harvard graduate and horticulture specialist Percival Gallager joined Olmsted, Olmsted & Eliot as an associate.

31. 1895

    Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr., ceased active involvement in projects due to progressively developing symptoms of dementia. He retired from the firm in August. The family remained discreet about his condition with clients, sought medical advice, and commenced private caretaking away from the public eye.

    Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., worked actively with the Olmsted firm. His career projects included Forest Hills Gardens, Queens, New York; Bok Tower Gardens in Florida; Brooklyn Botanical Garden; Denver Parkway; Druid Hill Park in Georgia; Palos Verde Estates in California; Washington State Capitol building in Olympia and parks in Seattle, Washington; and many projects in Washington, D.C., including the George Washington Memorial Parkway, Rock Creek Parkway, National Cathedral grounds, Jefferson Memorial, Federal Triangle, National Arboretum, Theodore Roosevelt National Memorial, and major work with the National Park Service, McMillan Commission, California state park system, and contributions to conservation, transportation planning, public art, and civic improvement.

    Future Olmsted associate Leon Henry Zach born.

    Calvert Vaux died while on a walk he often took at Gravesend Bay, Brooklyn, due to either accidental or deliberate drowning. The Olmsted family kept the news of his longtime associate's death from the ailing Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr.

32. 1896

    James Frederick Dawson apprenticed with the Olmsted firm.

    Olmsted partner Charles Eliot selected by the Metropolitan Park Commission to design the Revere Beach Reservation for public access and use. Eliot also supervised acquisition of riverfront properties for public purposes in Boston, Watertown, and Newton, and the Fresh Pond project in Cambridge. He began plans for the Cambridge esplanade, later realized by others.

33. 1897

    Olmsted partner Charles Eliot died March 25 of spinal meningitis at the age of thirty-seven. Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., took on work with the Metropolitan Park Commission, Boston.

34. 1897-1898

    The Olmsted Brothers firm formed (partnership of John Charles Olmsted and Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr.). The firm retained the Olmsted Brothers name from 1898 to 1961, while taking on various partners and associates.

35. 1899

    The American Society of Landscape Architecture (ASLA) founded in New York City. John Charles Olmsted and Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., were founding members, as was landscape architect Downing Vaux, a former schoolmate of John Charles Olmsted and the son of Calvert Vaux, who had assisted his father in the design of Riverside Drive in New York and the Wilderstein estate in Rhinebeck, New York. John Charles Olmsted served as the Society's first president from 1899 to 1901, and again in 1903-1905.

36. 1899-1900

    Harvard University established formal landscape architecture program with leadership from Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., who taught landscape architecture and planning at the school.