Book Chronicles Olmsted
Contribution to NW Cities
          By Fred Delkin

     Landscape architect John Charles Olmsted created a living legacy for the Pacific Northwest and  his many projects in Oregon, Washington, Idaho and British Columbia are chronicled in a new  
book, Greenscapes, published by the Washington State University Press.  Author Joan Hockaday  
weaves a detailed log of Olmsted's travels, illustrated with historical photos of his work.  She  
includes quotes from Olmsted's letters to his wife in Massachusetts that show his appreciation for  
the natural wonders of the Northwest.

Olmsted, stepson of a famous father, Frederick Law Olmsted, was tutored by his namesake, who  was the creator of New York's Central Park and sparked a nationwide movement to beautify cities. The younger Olmsted became a partner in his father's landscape design firm, based in Brookline  MA.  Author Hockaday preceded Greenscapes with five years of exhaustive research that included  the Olmsted firm's archives housed at the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. and his hundreds of lettters home preserved at Harvard University's Francis Loeb Library.  The reader of   Greenscapes has a front row seat to the Northwest region's history and turn-of-the-century growth  pains.

Olmsted junior was the first president of the American Society of Landscape Architects and he  
created parks for cities that included Charleston and New Orleans before beginning his sojourn in  
the Northwest in 1903 with an invitation from Portland, Oregon to make recommendations for a  
new park system and the upcoming Lewis & Clark Centennial Exposition.  His contract with  
Portland soon attracted a similar pact with Seattle for a park system and design of the grounds for  
the 1909 Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition.  

He subsequently masterminded design of college campuses including Linfield, Oregon State,  
University of Oregon, University of Idaho, Reed College, Whitman and the University of  
Washington.  He dictated landscapes for numerous private residential estates in Portland, Seattle,  
Spokane, Tacoma and Victoria, B.C.

The numerous photos in this work reflect Olmsted's respect for maintaining natural flora and  
geologic formations.  His skillful craftsmanship is still enjoyed today in his park, campus and  
residential legacies.  This is the only book on John Charles Olmsted's output.  It details his struggles  with political bodies and his success in finding funding for his visions.

Greenscapes is a paperback 9"x101/2" lavishly illustrated work now availaable in bookstores or  can be ordered online at wsupress.wsu.

© 2009 Oregon Magazine