The Best Planned City in the World: Olmsted, Vaux, and the Buffalo Park System

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A volume in the series Designing the American Park Edited by Ethan Carr Copyright © 2013 by Library of American Landscape History All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America ISBN 978-1-62534-006-1 Designed by Jonathan D. Lippincott Set in Granjon Printed and bound by Thomson-Shore, Inc. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Kowsky, Francis R., 1943– The best planned city in the world : Olmsted, Vaux, and the Buffalo park system / Francis R. Kowsky. pages cm. — (Designing the American park) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-62534-006-1 (cloth : alkaline paper) 1. Parks—New York (State)—Buffalo—History—19th century. 2. Parks—New York (State)—Buffalo—Design and construction—History—19th century. 3. City planning—New York (State)—Buffalo—History—19th century. 4. Landscape design—New York (State)—Buffalo—History—19th century. 5. Olmsted, Frederick Law, 1822–1903. 6. Vaux, Calvert, 1824–1895. I. Library of American Landscape History. II. Title. SB482.N72B83 2013 333.78’3097471—dc23 2012047390 British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Photographs by Andy Olenick were specially commissioned for this book and are © Andy Olenick. They include the chapter frontispieces appearing on pages 2, 22, 54, 78, 92, 106, 132, 152, and 184, which show, in order, Chapin Parkway, Forest Lawn Cemetery, Delaware Park, Front Park, Martin Luther King Jr. Park, Gates Circle and Chapin Parkway, the Towers of the Buffalo Psychiatric Center, Niagara Falls from the American side, and Cazenovia Park. Frontispiece: Map of Buffalo showing the new park and parkway system, prepared by Frederick Law Olmsted in 1876 for display at the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia. It was also shown at the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1878. Courtesy Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site. The photograph of Frederick Law Olmsted near the conclusion of his career, page 216, is from James Terry White, ed., National Cyclopaedia of American Biography (1921). Endpapers: (front) Spire Head House and the Beech Banks on the south shore of Gala Water; (back) the Parade. Both watercolor drawings were commissioned by Olmsted for the 1876 Centennial Exhibition. Courtesy Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society. Publication of this book was aided by a generous grant from Furthermore: a program of the J. M. Kaplan Fund Generous support for the publication of The Best Planned City in the World was provided by the following organizations: Viburnum Trilobum Fund of the New York Community Trust Furthermore: a program of the J. M. Kaplan Fund The Baird Foundation The Cameron and Jane Baird Foundation the margaret l. wendt foundation Robert & Patricia Colby Foundation figure foundation “This page intentionally left blank” ...