Building on the Olmsted Legacy
Great parks are part of Louisville's nature due to the incomparable work of world- renowned landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted. For 21st Century Parks, the prospect of building on the Olmsted legacy is very exciting.
The year was 1891; Louisville, Kentucky Mayor Charles D. Jacob commissioned Olmsted to build a park system in his city. Olmsted envisioned three large signature parks -- Iroquois, Shawnee and Cherokee -- all connected by tree-lined boulevards. Louisville, along with only six other cities throughout the United States, was far-sighted enough to hire and follow through with Olmsted's park system plan.
It is important to note that the trio of extraordinary parks Louisvillians now enjoy were suburban parks when they opened in the late 1800s. The parks became a magnet for new neighborhoods as families sought to escape the industrial congestion of downtown.
Since that time, Louisville's population shifted further east and south of the traditional city limits. The lack of public green space and great parks in the Olmsted tradition has long been accepted in Louisville's suburbs as the price to pay for a new slice of "The American Dream."
The management of 21st Century Parks believes it is time to re-learn, re-think and build on the vision of Frederick Law Olmsted. With the creation of The Fork, 21st Century Parks is determined to redefine the city's suburban landscape and live up to its ultimate goal and motto, "Putting nature back into neighborhoods."