Timeline

1. 1865, Apr.

   The firm of Olmsted, Vaux & Co. appointed landscape architects for the Central Park board.

2. 1865, Oct.

   Returned from California. Worked for the next several years in partnership with Vaux, on designs for Prospect Park, Fort Green Park, Eastern Parkway, and Ocean Parkway in Brooklyn; Morningside Park in Manhattan; the connecting parkways of Buffalo, New York; South Parks and the suburb of Riverside, Chicago; the Gallaudet College campus in Washington, D.C., and agricultural colleges in Maine and Massachusetts.

3. 1866

   Became associate editor in partnership at the Nation and a leader in the American Social Science Association.  Ended his formal affiliation with the Yosemite Commission. Intensified work on Prospect Park. Family lived on Staten Island. Planned Agricultural College at Amherst, Massachusetts, and what would become Gallaudet University, Washington, D.C.

4. 1866, Nov. 24

   Infant son born and died.

5. 1867

   Elected honorary member American Institute of Architects and joined the executive committee of the Southern Famine Relief Commission. Advised on plans for Cornell University, Ithaca, New York.

6. 1868

   Proposed extensive park system for Buffalo, New York, and worked on plans for a residential suburb outside Chicago, with the Riverside Improvement Company, developers. Riverdale marked his foray into suburban planning.

7. 1870, July 24

   Son Henry Perkins Olmsted born on Staten Island. At age seven, Henry was officially renamed Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. He later became heir, with half-brother John, to the work of the Olmsted firm.

8. 1871

   Transferred financial investment in the Nation to partners E. L. Godkin and James Miller McKim. Preliminary construction of Prospect Park completed. Published designs for South Park system, Chicago, and park system for Hartford, Connecticut. New York City mayor William "Boss" Tweed indicted, and with the political winds changed, Olmsted and Vaux named landscape architects and general superintendents of Central Park.

9. 1872

   Olmsted, Vaux & Company amicably dissolved, as each partner pursued separate projects. Olmsted took on McLean Hospital project, Waverly, Massachusetts. Vaux advised artist Frederick Church on the residential design of his home "Olana" near Hudson, New York, and began designs for the American Museum of Natural History and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Vaux also in the 1870s designed lodging houses for Charles Loring Brace's Children's Aid Society. He and Olmsted collaborated again in the 1880s. Olmsted became landscape architect of New York City Department of Public Parks. Began collaboration with Romanesque architect Henry H. Richardson (1838-1886) on the Buffalo State Asylum for the Insane, which opened in 1880 (now the Richardson Olmsted Campus, Buffalo, New York).

10. 1873, Jan. 25

    Father John Olmsted died in Hartford, Connecticut.

11. 1873 

    Olmsted criticized for strict management of Central Park keepers work force.

12. 1874

    Named landscape architect to the U.S. Capitol, and prepared a plan for design of the grounds. Published "The National Capitol" in the New York Daily Tribune in December. Submitted plans for Mount Royal Park in Montreal, Canada.

13. 1875

    Plan for U.S. Capitol grounds and terraces approved by Congress. Plan for Riverside Park, New York, adopted, in March. John C. Olmsted began work as apprentice and draftsman on Olmsted projects. Inspected areas of consideration for Boston park system.

14. 1876

    Proposed what would become the "Emerald Necklace" park system in Boston, as well as projects for a new capitol in Albany, New York, and a resort on Lake Chautauqua, New York.

15. 1877

    Promoted concept for a park in Montreal. Grew ill from over-work. Left position as landscape architect of the New York Department of Parks, in December.

16. 1878

    Suffered bout of periodic depression. Leaving in January, traveled to England and Europe, revisiting Birkenhead Park at Liverpool. Returned to the United States in April. Family lived temporarily in Cambridge, Massachusetts, at the home of E. L. Godkin. Submitted preliminary plan for Back Bay, Boston, and worked with botanist Charles Sprague Sargent of Harvard in development of collections for Arnold Arboretum. Planned capitol grounds for Albany and Hartford.

17. 1878, Oct. 15

    Charlotte Olmsted married Dr. John Bryant at Trinity Church in Boston; they have three boys, grandchildren to Frederick Law Olmsted and Mary Cleveland Olmsted.

18. 1879

    Family moved to Brookline, Massachusetts. Presented proposal for Niagara Reservation, New York.

19. 1880

    Collaborated with Henry H. Richardson in design of bridges in Back Bay Fens, Boston. U.S. Senate failed to appropriate funds to construct U.S. Capitol terraces. Gave lecture, "The Justifying Value of a Public Park" at American Social Science Association meeting in Saratoga Springs, New York.

20. 1881

    Submitted plan for park in West Roxbury, Massachusetts. Niagara Reservation plan struggled before the New York state legislature. Published Mount Royal, Montreal. Suffered injury in a fall from his horse. Semi-rural Brookline shared characteristics with the Hartford of Olmsted's youth. Collaborated on New England projects with Henry H. Richardson.

21. 1881, Nov. 21

    Step-son Owen Frederick Olmsted died, of tuberculosis, in Albany, New York, en route to the East coast from his home in Montana, where he had started a cattle company with the financial assistance of Olmsted and advice from Clarence King.

22. 1882

    Defended his terrace proposal before joint meeting of Senate and House committees on public buildings and grounds. Submitted report to Architect of the Capitol Edward Clark regarding progress on the U.S. Capitol grounds project and plans for planting. Became honorary member of the Union League Club, New York. Submitted The Park for Detroit, regarding Belle Isle, a recreational site on the Detroit River.

23. 1883

    Niagara Falls Association formed. Became member of the Saturday Club, Boston. Submitted plan for Easton's Beach, Newport, Rhode Island. Governor Grover Cleveland signed law creating New York State Reservation at Niagara Falls. Submitted plan for Lawrenceville School, New Jersey. Worked on projects in Washington, D.C., Detroit, Buffalo, Niagara Falls, and Boston, including design for the Back Bay Fens.  Purchased a farmhouse on a small property near home of H. H. Richardson, and called it "Fairsted." Established an office in the front parlor, and landscaped the grounds with son John C. Olmsted, who was working with the Olmsted firm and shared the residence, as did Marion and teenager Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr.

24. 1883, Winter

    Charlotte Olmsted Bryant institutionalized due to mental illness. She later died in an asylum in Norwood, Massachusetts, in 1908, at the age of fifty-three, and was buried at Mount Auburn Cemetery.

25. 1884

    Step-son John C. Olmsted became an official partner in the renamed F. L. & J.C. Olmsted, Landscape Architects, firm. Prepared plans for Franklin Park. Architectural associate Thomas Wisedell (1846-1884), died. Charles Eliot (1859-1897), the son of the president of Harvard University and a Harvard graduate, was a valued apprentice in the firm. Eliot opened his own landscape architecture office in 1886, and later rejoined the Olmsted firm in 1893.

26. 1885

    Resigned as advisor on the U.S. Capitol terraces project; remained involved in landscape architecture for the grounds. Joined with former partner Calvert Vaux to create plan for Niagara Reservation.

27. 1886, Apr. 27

    Henry H. Richardson died of Bright's (kidney) disease. His funeral was held at Trinity Church, Boston, which he designed. Olmsted attended, as did Charles McKim, Stanford White, Augustus Saint-Gaudens and other leading architects and artists.

28. 1886, Aug.

    Traveled to California with Henry Codman and Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr.  Revisited the Mariposa Big Tree Grove and Galen Clark. Sent Codman and Rick to tour Santa Cruz and the Napa Valley, while he went to Palo Alto and met with Leland Stanford to discuss possible siting for what would become Stanford University. On the return journey, visited stepson Owen Olmsted's Running Water Ranches property in Montana, and the Niagara Falls project in Buffalo.

29. 1887

    Collaborated with Calvert Vaux on revised plan for Morningside Park. Returned to California in October.

30. 1888

    F. L. and J.C. Olmsted, Landscape Architects, published Plan of Public Recreation Grounds for the City of Pawtucket. Vaux resumed position as landscape architect of the Department of Public Parks of New York City. Garden and Forest began publication. Work continued on Vanderbilt mausoleum on Staten Island. F. L. and J. C. Olmsted submitted plan for public park system in Buffalo, New York. Olmsted condemned management of Yosemite in interview article "Yosemite Vandalism: A Landscape Gardener Condemns the Commissioners' Work" in San Francisco Examiner.

31. 1888, Aug.

    Traveled to Lone Pine Mountain, outside Asheville, North Carolina, to view site for construction of George W. Vanderbilt's country estate. Over the next several years, Olmsted's firm designed the formal gardens, landscape, and tree arboretum, and Richard Morris Hunt (1827-1895) was architect for the mansion and associated buildings.

32. 1889

    After completing a study-tour of park lands in England and Europe, Henry Sargent Codman (1864-1893), a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and nephew of botanist Charles Sprague Sargent, apprenticed with and then became a partner in F. L. and J. C. Olmsted firm. Submitted plans for resort in Colorado and design for Alabama state capitol grounds, as well as proposal for Vanderbilt's Biltmore Estate, North Carolina, and work at Frederick W. Vanderbilt's Rough Point mansion in Newport, Rhode Island.

33. 1890

    Supervised work on George W. Vanderbilt summer home at Bar Harbor, Maine, as well as the Biltmore Estate. Inspected sites for National Zoo, Washington, D.C.; the grounds of military academy at West Point, New York; and the World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago. Resigned from further involvement at Stanford University. F. L. Olmsted & Co. appointed landscape architects for the World's Columbian Exposition. Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., began study at Harvard University. Traveled frequently with Codman. In August, they advise as to site in Chicago a World's Fair. Daniel Burnham (1846-1912) was appointed chief of construction, John Wellborn Root (1850-1891) consulting architect, and Olmsted and Codman consulting landscape architects.

34. 1890, Aug. 11

    Close friend and Children's Aid Society founder Charles Loring Brace died of Bright's disease.

35. 1891, Jan. 15

    John Wellborn Root died of pneumonia.

36. 1891

    Traveled extensively to visit and supervise projects in various states.  Gifford Pinchot (1865-1946), who in 1905 would become the first Chief of the U.S. Forest Service and later Governor of Pennsylvania, hired for forest management at Biltmore.

37. 1892

    Traveled to England and France with Codman. Returned to the United States in September. Honored for his service at the Dedication Ceremonies of the World's Columbian Exposition, and elected honorary member of the American Institute of Architects. Continued work on Biltmore Estate, and in Boston.

38. 1892, Aug. 6

    Mary Vaux killed in a carriage accident in New Jersey, at the age of sixty-two.

39. 1893, Jan. 13

    Protégé Henry Sargent Codman died of infection following surgery for appendicitis.

40. 1893, Mar.

    Charles Eliot made a formal partner in the Olmsted & Company firm, which was renamed Olmsted, Olmsted, and Eliot until Eliot's death in 1897.

41. 1893, May 1

    World's Columbian Exposition opened in Chicago. Some 27 million visitors attended the exposition over the next six months, until its closing at the end of October. What became known as the "White City" was designed in Neo-Classical style, and Olmsted's fairgrounds featured a large lagoon as centerpiece, with a system of canals and water basins.  Submitted report for site of Columbia College in Morningside Heights, Manhattan. Preliminary plan for Biltmore Arboretum. First Olmsted biography, by friend Mariana Griswold Van Rensselaer, published in October, in Century Illustrated Magazine. Van Rensselaer had published Henry Hobson Richardson and His Works in 1888.

    

42. 1894

    Worked in Cincinnati, Boston, Brooklyn, Chicago, Milwaukee, Louisville, Atlanta, Bar Harbor, and Newport. Appointed consulting landscape architect for Prospect Park.

43. 1894, Mar. 6

    Step-mother Mary Ann Bull Olmsted died, at age ninety-two, and was buried in Hartford.

44. 1894, Nov.

    Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., was dispatched to work on the Biltmore Estate.

45. 1895

    Firm produced preliminary plan for American University, Washington, D.C. Made final trip to Biltmore Estate, beginning in March, accompanied by Mary Cleveland Olmsted. In May, informed John C. Olmsted that he should no longer act independently with clients, due to growing problems with short-term memory loss. John Singer Sargent began painting portrait, May. Left Biltmore in early June. Painting was completed with Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., standing in as the model for his father. Departed Brookline for Deer Harbor, Maine. Experienced increasing dementia. Forced to retire from the firm.

46. 1895, July 31

    Architect Richard Morris Hunt died. Hunt was buried in Newport, Rhode Island.

47. 1895, Nov.

    Departed to live for a time in England, under the care of Mary and daughter Marion Olmsted. Mary received news of the November 19 death by drowning of Calvert Vaux, in Gravesend Bay, Brooklyn, New York. Concerned for the frail mental health of her husband, Mary destroyed the letter that conveyed the news. Olmsted did not learn of Vaux's death until the following year.

48. 1896

    Mental condition, which was attributed by physician as due to the accumulated stress of over-work, chronic insomnia, and melancholia, continued to deteriorate despite rest in England.

49. 1897

    Moved with Mary Cleveland Olmsted into family retreat at Deer Island, Maine.

50. 1897, Mar. 25

    Protégé Charles Eliot died of spinal meningitis at age thirty-seven. The Olmsted firm was subsequently reconstituted as Olmsted Brothers, with John C. Olmsted and Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr.

51. 1898

    With Mary unable to cope with the degree of home-care required, Olmsted's fear of eventual institutionalization was realized. In September, committed to the McLean Asylum in Waverly, Massachusetts, the grounds of which he had helped plan and design. Frederik Law Olmsted, Jr., appointed landscape architect to the Boston Metropolitan Park Commission.

52. 1899

    The Olmsted brothers and Downing Vaux, the son of Calvert Vaux, were among the founders of the American Society of Landscape Architects.

53. 1900

    Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., invited by college president Charles W. Eliot to create the nation's first curriculum in landscape architecture, at Harvard.

54. 1902

    Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., appointed the Charles Eliot Professor of Landscape Architecture, at Harvard. He taught at Harvard until 1914, and later collaborated with the landscape architecture department's librarian, Theodora Kimball, in editing two volumes of his father's correspondence, reports, fragments, published by G. P. Putnam's Sons of New York, in 1922 and 1928.

55. 1903, Aug. 28

    Died in Waverly, Massachusetts, with Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., at his bedside. After a very small private family ceremony at Fairsted, Olmsted's ashes were interred at Old North Cemetery in his home town of Hartford, Connecticut.