Troy University got their Olmsted-designed landscape thanks to Edward M. Shackelford, a professor turned President of the growing University, who helped Troy in their greatest period of growth. While Shackelford got the Presidency in 1899, it wasn’t until 1922 that he reached out to Olmsted Brothers seeking guidance on the future of the school. Within days of Shackelford’s request, Olmsted Brothers responded expressing interest in working at Troy, estimating their cost between $1000 and $2000, however a lack of funding stopped Olmsted Brothers from beginning work in 1922.
Thankfully, five years later, the Alabama State Legislature approved $5.4 million dollars for buildings throughout the State, and at the same time the Alabama Board of Education signed a deal with Olmsted Brothers to make plans for higher education institutions in the state. For several years, Olmsted Brothers studied and surveyed the landscape at Troy, eventually calling for a large, open pedestrian quad to anchor the campus.
In a June 1930 letter, Olmsted Brothers wrote to Shackelford that Troy was “by far the largest of any of the schools" the firm was working on at the time. Olmsted Brothers worked with Troy for decades, with the Brookline firm sending a floral engineer to arrange plantings around the campus. When Shackelford saw the design, he called it “the finest piece of work of its kind that I ever saw."
Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site
Source: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service