When the Lincoln Administration passed The Morrill Act of 1862, it required all states to provide public lands for Land Grant Colleges. The Morrill Act promoted the “liberal and practical education of the industrial classes for the benefit of Agricultural & Mechanical Arts."
In 1864, six Amherst farms of 310 acres were purchased for the site of the new Massachusetts Agricultural College. In 1866, the board of Trustees for the future college asked Frederick Law Olmsted to submit a proposal for the campus and some buildings.
Instead of siting the building as requested, Olmsted recommended that the entire college be located on the Eastern slope and be modeled after a typical New England village. Olmsted believed that “the individuality of an agricultural college lies in its agricultural setting, not in its buildings, which is a mere piece of apparel to be fitted to the requirements of the agricultural trunk.
In his report, Olmsted recommended that a village green be constructed at the center of the farmland campus. This was the only recommendation of Olmsted’s the Board of Trustees took; they viewed his response to building placement to be an improper response to the assignment and fired him. The Board of Trustees then chose to site the college on the Western plateau.
Olmsted’s vision for a Campus Pond and its extensive surrounding lawns was accepted and is a great example of the early use of ecological principles in landscape architecture as well as a central gathering place and focus feature of the campus.
Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site
Source: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service