Latest News


Land

Blackstone Boulevard Parkway

News Release: Rhode Island’s first designed parkway, Blackstone Boulevard Parkway, was originally designed in 1886 by H.W.S. Cleveland. Before any work could be done, Cleveland would pass away, with Olmsted Brothers being commissioned to complete the design. John Charles Olmsted, with Carl Rust Parker, took lead on...


Land

Geographic Information Systems at Joshua Tree National Park

News Release: Geographic information systems (GIS) are computer-based systems for gathering and organizing spatial data and related information for display and analysis. GIS and related technologies, such as global positioning systems (GPS), are essential tools for supporting the mandate of the National Park Service to manage park lands for future generations.


Land

Blue River Park: Wildfire Recovery Master Plan

News Release: Blue River Park is the heart of the McKenzie Valley. For nearly 70 years, it has been a treasured hub for the local community, and a draw for the many visitors who come to experience its beauty and nature. In September 2020, a devastating wildfire destroyed much of the community of Blue River and its beloved park.


Land

Was General Grant Arrested for Speeding in Washington, D.C.?

News Release: On Sept. 27, 1908, The Sunday Star published an interview with retired police officer William West. A formerly enslaved man who had served in a United States Colored Troops infantry regiment during the Civil War, West joined the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Force in 1871. In recalling his time with the police department, West made a stunning claim: he had arrested President Ulysses S. Grant for speeding in 1872.


Land

Fur Trade Festival Open to Community

News Release: Kettle Falls, WA - Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area, Friends of Spokane House, and Kettle Falls Historical Center will be hosting a Fur Trade Festival. The event will take place Saturday May 13th from 8:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. outside the Kettle Falls Historical Center in Kettle Falls, WA. The event is free and open to all ages.


Land

Clifton Park

News Release: By 1895, the Baltimore Park Commission had already begun making improvements for a public park, and already invested in the rehabilitation of green spaces throughout the city. In 1904, Olmsted Brothers submitted their first comprehensive report for Baltimore, which included reworking Clifton Park, which they saw as one of the city’s major parks that would anchor the whole system.


Land

Fatality at the Maze District in Canyonlands National Park

News Release: Moab, Utah - At approximately 10 a.m. on Monday, April 24, 2023, Canyonlands National Park staff at Hans Flat received a visitor report of an unoccupied vehicle in the Maze District. A search and rescue team of National Park Service employees was quickly assembled to locate the individual associated with the vehicle.


Land

Prospect Park (Buffalo)

News Release: As the young city of Buffalo grew in the 1860s, Niagara Street was extended, and the new open space was known as the Prospect Hill parks, plural because Niagara Street allowed for two neighboring rectangles of greenery. By the time Olmsted arrived in Buffalo, Prospect Hill parks was surrounded by a residential community as well as a nearby reservoir. Buffalo transferred the parks to the Board of Park Commissioners, tasked with implementing Olmsted’s plan.


Land

Desert Tortoise Telemetry and Conservation

News Release: A desert tortoise lumbers across the sand like a small boulder come to life. Look closely and you may spot an extra knob on the rough, dark brown shell. It’s a radio transmitter, attached temporarily by park biologists. The small electronic device emits a signal that the biologists can detect, using a directional antenna and a VHF radio receiver.


Land

Rogue River Trail Closed at Trail Mile 21.5

News Release: Grants Pass, Ore. - A large landslide is impacting the Rogue River Trail at trail mile 21.5, approximately one mile upstream from the Rogue River Ranch. The landslide has obliterated approximately 150 feet of the trail. There is no clear, safe route around or over this obstruction. The BLM has issued a public land closure for the affected area.


Land

Gateway Arch Park Foundation Receives $2.7 Million Grant

News Release: ST. LOUIS (April 26, 2023) The Missouri Department of Economic Development (DED) announced that it has awarded Gateway Arch Park Foundation (“the Foundation") a grant of more than $2.7 million for the Old Courthouse renovation project at Gateway Arch National Park through the Local Tourism Asset Development...


Land

Cowen Park

News Release: In 1903, the land that would become Cowen Park was privately owned, part of the “University Park" subdivision platted by Charles Cowen. That same year, John Charles Olmsted of Olmsted Brothers recommended acquiring the land for a park. Four years later, while construction was underway on the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition, Cowen donated the land to Seattle, and John Charles was asked to create a preliminary plan for a park.


Land

Bald Eagle Nesting Areas Protected in Voyageurs National Park

News Release: INTERNATIONAL FALLS, MN: Voyageurs National Park is temporarily closing the breeding areas around three (3) of the park’s bald eagle nests to campers and other human activities. After the young eagles leave in late July, these temporarily closed park areas will be reopened for public use.


Land

Harbor Park

News Release: In 1928, Olmsted Brothers were hired by Mary Louise Curtis Bok to create a plan for the neglected hillside parcel of land between Camden Harbor and Camden Library. Bok likely hired Olmsted Brothers as they were currently working on subdivision and bird sanctuary in Florida for her husband. With Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. taking the lead, he was tasked with reworking the two-acres of land.


Land

The California Trail Interpretive Center returns to summer schedule

News Release: ELKO, Nev. - The California Trail Interpretive Center (CTIC) will resume a seven-day per week schedule beginning on May 1st, 2023. Summer operating hours will be Monday through Sunday 8:30 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. Located eight miles west of Elko, Nevada at the Hunter exit 292 on Interstate 80, the CTIC is a local favorite also visited by scores of travelers stopping by on the I-80 corridor.


Land

South Mountain Reservation

News Release: In 1898, Olmsted Brothers were hired by the Essex County Park Commission to advise the group on tracts of land to purchase. One tract of land totaling more than 2,000-acres and spanning several townships and multiple jurisdictions, South Mountain Reservation, was designed by John Charles Olmsted and Percival Gallagher.


Land

Eastern Promenade

News Release: In 1905, Portland, Maine’s mayor James Baxter hired Olmsted Brothers to further develop the Eastern Promenade and create a master plan for a cohesive park system. John Charles Olmsted and Henry Hubbard took lead on design of the Eastern Promenade, proposing they follow the natural topography of the site. Their plan introduced pedestrian paths along the hillside as well as an overpass for pedestrians.


Land

Wyman Park

News Release: In 1904, Olmsted Brothers prepared a report for the development of Baltimore’s Parks, including the 88-acre Wyman Park. With its old beech trees and topography, Olmsted Brothers identified Wyman Park as one of the finest single passages of scenery to be so close to a large city. Because they were so...


Land

Carroll Park

News Release: Between 1890 and 1907, Baltimore, Maryland began acquiring portions of land around the Mount Clare Estate to provide a large park for the city’s southwestern neighborhoods. In 1904, Olmsted Brothers were hired to develop a master plan for what would become Carroll Park. The plan for Carroll Park was developed to protect the historic house as well as providing grounds for passive and active recreation.


Land

Mount Vernon Square

News Release: In 1876, Frederick Law Olmsted was hired to redesign Mount Vernon Square in Baltimore, Maryland. Olmsted would redesign the north and south squares, while implementing similar designs for the east and west squares. Choosing to remove the cast-iron fences that encircled Mount Vernon Square, Olmsted included various pathways and grassy lawns in his design.