104 Other Texas papers took aim: FLO, A Journey Through Texas (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2004), 437.
104 In a grim irony: Roper, “Frederick Law Olmsted and the Western Texas Free-Soil Movement.”
105 launching the kindergarten movement: Papers, 2:60–61.
106 “I can’t well write a word”: FLO to Edward Everett Hale, August 23, 1855, letter reprinted in ibid., 362.
106 Abbott traveled back East: Many of the details about James Abbott raising money for weapons drawn from W. H. Isley, “The Sharps Rifle Episode in Kansas History,” American Historical Association (April 1907).
107 raise more than $300: FLO to Abbott, October 4, 1855, Kansas State Historical Society collection, accessed online.
107 He consulted a veteran: FLO to F. G. Adams, December 24, 1883.
107 Olmsted sent him a series of letters: See FLO to Abbott, September 17, October 4, 7, 24, 1855, Kansas State Historical Society collection, accessed online.
107 h for howitzer: FLO to Abbott, October 4, 1855, Kansas State Historical Society collection, accessed online.
107 “prompt and energetic friend”: Kansas State Historical Society, “Selections from the Hyatt Manuscripts,” Transactions 1–2 (1875–1880): 221.
107 Olmsted’s howitzer was mounted: Account of howitzer’s tangled history from Isley, “Sharps Rifle Episode in Kansas History.”
Chapter 9: The Literary Republic
108 “writing as much”: JHO to Bertha Olmsted, January 28, 1855.
109 Joshua Dix: Descriptions of Dix and Edwards drawn from a variety of sources, including Arnold Tew, “Putnam’s Magazine: Its Men and Their Literary and Social Policies,” PhD diss., Case Western Reserve University, 1970.
109 distant relative: Support for Putnam’s being related to Olmsted drawn from A Memoir of George Palmer Putnam (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1903), 339.
110 apartment at 335 Broadway: Papers, 2:355.
111 650 magazines in the United States: John Tebbel and Mary Ellen Zuckerman, The Magazine in America, 1741–1990 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1991), 8, 25.
111 Harper’s simply raided English magazines: Frank Luther Mott, American Journalism: A History, 1690–1960, vol. 2 (New York: Macmillan, 1962), 384.
112 “If we can get the writers”: FLO to JO, May 28, 1855.
112 Putnam’s physical offices: Secret-office detail drawn from Laura Wood Roper, “‘Mr. Law’ and Putnam’s Monthly Magazine: A Note on a Phase in the Career of Frederick Law Olmsted,” American Literature (March 1954).
113 “call from a queer fellow”: FLO to JO, April 13, 1855.
113 Denison Olmsted: Detail about acting as consultant to the dictionary from the preface of the revised 1848 edition of Webster’s, vi.
113 mould to mold: Account of Olmsted copyediting changes drawn from The Writings of Herman Melville: The Piazza Tales, and Other Prose Pieces, 1839–1860 (Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 1987), 561nn.
113 “hideous Websterian manner”: George Curtis to Joshua Dix, September 1855, quoted in Tew, “Putnam’s Magazine,” 94.
113 “Oliver Basselin”: The three poems by Longfellow appeared in the May, July, and August issues of Putnam’s.
113 “than the Knickerbocker”: Hartford Courant, May 22, 1855.
113 “much the best Mag.”: Curtis to Dix letter, September 7, 1855, quoted in Roper, “‘Mr. Law’ and Putnam’s.”
114 “a sort of literary republic”: FLO to JO, December 9, 1855.
115 “This ponderosity becomes”: FLO to JO, November 9, 1855.
115 “This remarkable book”: New York Post, April 8, 1856.
115 “the most valuable”: Boston Daily Advertiser, February 18, 1857.
116 exclusive serial of the Dickens novel: Miriam Naomi Kotzin, “Putnam’s Monthly and Its Place in American Literature,” PhD diss., New York University, 1969.
117 “surprised if Bartholomew”: FLO to Mary Olmsted, June 7, 1856.
117 “But then it troubles me”: FLO to Bertha Olmsted, June 18, 1856, reprinted in Papers, 2:380.
117 Preston Brooks: Account of Brooks-Sumner incident drawn largely from Allan Nevins, Ordeal of the Union: A House Dividing, 1852–1857 (New York: Macmillan, 1940), 444–445.
118 “The position of an American”: FLO, “How Ruffianism in Washington and Kansas Is Regarded in Europe,” New-York Daily Times, July 10, 1856.
118 party that Thackeray threw: Laura Wood Roper, “Frederick Law Olmsted in the ‘Literary Republic,’” Mississippi Valley Historical Review (December 1952).
119 promote his own book: Ibid.
119 “fallen off alarmingly”: JHO to FLO, July 10, 1856.
119 “Write me in a fever”: FLO to Dix, August 29, 1856.
120 “my best book”: FLO to Mariana Griswold van Rensselaer, June 17, 1893.
121 “special proneness to violence”: Thomas Gladstone, The Englishman in Kansas; or, Squatter Life and Border Warfare (New York: Miller, 1857), FLO’s introduction, viii.
121 “I much fear”: FLO to Edward Everett Hale, January 10, 1857, reprinted in Papers , 2:398.
121 purchased by another publisher for $3,400: Roper, “‘Mr. Law’ and Putnam’s.”
122 bankruptcy by William Emerson: Papers, 2:334.
122 “We failed today!”: Curtis to FLO, August 15, 1857, reprinted in Tew, “Putnam’s Magazine,” 117.
Chapter 10: “Is New York Really Not Rich Enough ?”
124 James Alexander Hamilton: The Papers of Frederick Law Olmsted, vol. 3, Creating Central Park (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1983), 93.
125 “What else can I do”: FLO to JHO, September 11, 1857.
125 “P.S. After a very”: Ibid.
126 memories of Niblo’s Garden: For account of Niblo’s, Contoit’s, and other early New York green spaces, see FLO Jr. and Theodora Kimball, eds., Forty Years of Landscape Architecture, vol. 2 (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1922), 21.
127 Manhattan Island had seventeen parks: Roy Rosenzweig and Elizabeth Blackmar, The Park and the People (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1992), 19.
127 “What are called parks in New-York”: Horticulturist, October 1850.
127 “Is New York really not rich”: Horticulturist, June 1851.
127 “very small space”: New York Post, June 17, 1851.
127 “There are no lungs”: New York Herald, July 15, 1850.
127 In 1850, both candidates: Catherine Fredman, Central Park tour guide, to JM, July 14, 2009.
128 Neither was willing to sell: Rosenzweig and Blackmar, The Park and the People, 21.
128 “Give us a park”: New York Commercial Advertiser, July 29, 1853.
128 British troops had once: David Karabell, Central Park tour guide, to JM, July 1, 2009.
128 properties developed along: Fredman to JM, July 14, 2009.
129 A pair of bone-boiling plants: Rosenzweig and Blackmar, The Park and the People , 70.
129 Seneca Village had 264 residents: Leslie Alexander, African or American? Black Identity and Political Activism in New York City (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2008), 157.
129 $5,169,369.90: Figure comes from Clarence Cook, A Description of the New York Central Park (New York: Benjamin Blom, 1972), 22.
129 Andrew Williams: Rosenzweig and Blackmar, The Park and the People, 70.
130 Downing was a skillful swimmer: Account of Downing’s drowning drawn in part from interview, August 14, 2009, JM with Francis Kowsky, author of Country, Park, and City: The Architecture and Life of Calvert Vaux (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998).
130 “There is no Downing”: New York Herald, September 9, 1857.
131 “black and unctuous slime”: FLO, “Passages in the Life of an Unpractical Man,” reprinted in Papers, 3:89–90.
132 “Everything is black & blacker”: FLO to Samuel Cabot, October 22, 1857, reprinted in Papers, 2:452.
133 Many of the desperate job seekers: Account of menacing workers taken from “I
nfluence,” an unpublished manuscript fragment by Olmsted and also from Papers , 3:15.
133 as little as 3¢ an hour: Detail from FLO to CP board of commissioners, January 22, 1861.
133 “into a capital discipline”: FLO to JO, January 14, 1858.
134 “Dear dear Fred”: JHO to FLO, November 13, 1857.
134 “In his death”: JO to FLO, November 28, 1857.
134 “Don’t let Mary suffer”: JHO to FLO, November 13, 1857.
Chapter 11: Right Man, Right Place
135 Vaux was an architect: Portrait of Vaux and early work with Downing drawn from multiple sources including Francis Kowsky, Country, Park, and City: The Architecture and Life of Calvert Vaux (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998).
137 Vaux was a tiny man: Description of Vaux’s appearance and demeanor drawn from interview, JM with Kowsky, August 14, 2009.
137 “Being thoroughly disgusted”: Vaux, quoted in the Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin (Winter 2008).
139 “It would have been difficult”: FLO, “Public Parks and the Enlargement of Towns,” reprinted in Civilizing American Cities: Writings on City Landscapes, ed. S. B. Sutton (New York: Da Capo Press, 1997), 52.
139 “go ahead with the Children’s Aid”: FLO to Brace, December 1, 1853.
140 “The Park is intended”: FLO, “Description of the Central Park,” reprinted in Papers, 3:213.
140 A large improvised table: Interview, JM with Kowsky, August 14, 2009.
140 For their design: Details regarding Olmsted and Vaux’s design taken from the so-called Greensward plan, reprinted in Papers, vol. 3.
140 “who in the best sense”: Greensward plan, reprinted in Papers, 3:126.
141 Jervis McEntee—the notable painter: Detail that McEntee did paintings for the Greensward submission checked on December 9, 2010, with Kowsky, author of Country, Park, and City.
142 “Only twenty years ago”: Greensward plan, reprinted in Papers, 3:120.
143 By late in the afternoon of March 31, 1858: Sara Cedar Miller, Central Park: An American Masterpiece (New York: Abrams, 2003), 87.
143 like the world’s continents: Papers, 3:112.
143 plan dubbed “The Eagle”: New York Post, April 15, 1858.
144 “Commonplace and tasteless”: Clarence Cook, A Description of the New York Central Park (New York: Benjamin Blom, 1972), 24.
144 a mysterious submission: Miller, Central Park, 234.
144 “If, as is not improbable”: Greensward plan, reprinted in Papers, 3:132.
145 “jewels of the Park”: Dillon and Belmont card, New York Post, June 10, 1858.
146 “It is one great purpose”: FLO to CP board of commissioners, May 31, 1858, reprinted in Papers, 3:196.
146 “The contrast will be sudden”: Dillon and Belmont card, New York Post, June 10, 1858.
146 “It is not only”: New York Courier and Enquirer, May 31, 1858.
Chapter 12: A Park Is Born
149 blast caused the very first fatality: Roy Rosenzweig and Elizabeth Blackmar, The Park and the People (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1992), 166.
149 “undignified tricks of disguise”: FLO Jr. and Theodora Kimball, eds., Forty Years of Landscape Architecture, vol. 2 (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1922), 268.
149 To drain it: David Karabell, Central Park tour guide, to JM, July 1, 2009.
151 “Passages of scenery”: Sara Cedar Miller, Central Park: An American Masterpiece (New York: Abrams, 2003), 111.
151 On December 11, 1858: Date of first day of skating drawn from New York Tribune , December 16, 1858.
152 Diocletian Lewis: Notion that Lewis’s ideas about outdoor fitness contributed to the park’s popularity drawn from Clarence Cook, A Description of the New York Central Park (New York: Benjamin Blom, 1972), 64.
152 rented for 10¢ an hour: Rosenzweig and Blackmar, The Park and the People, 229.
152 armchairs for sliding: New York Post, January 28, 1862.
152 “Many a young fellow”: Guidebook quoted in Rosenzweig and Blackmar, The Park and the People, 231.
152 Vaux went skating: Francis Kowsky, Country, Park, and City: The Architecture and Life of Calvert Vaux (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998), 138.
153 “members of the homo genus”: New York Herald, December 20, 1858.
153 “all ages, sexes and conditions”: New York Times, December 27, 1859.
153 “Masters Richard and William”: New York Herald, December 17, 1858.
153 “a democratic development”: FLO to Parke Godwin, August 1, 1858, reprinted in Papers, 3:201.
154 “blessed dandelions”: Cook, Description of Central Park, 107.
154 boat right into the entrance: Detail checked on December 1, 2010, by JM with Sara Cedar Miller, Central Park Conservancy.
154 Strauss waltzes to Rossini marches: Examples of music taken from concert writeups that appeared in New York Herald, August 28, 1859; New York Tribune, September 3, 1860; and New York Times, October 9, 1860.
155 orchestra play from the middle of the lake: FLO Jr. and Kimball, Forty Years of Landscape Architecture, 2:414.
155 clangs seemed to meld: New York Herald, July 31, 1859.
155 “Sabbath cracker”: Rosenzweig and Blackmar, The Park and the People, 255.
156 thirty-four bridges and archways: Bridge count from the Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin (Winter 2008).
157 “Nature first, second, and third”: Calvert Vaux to Clarence Cook, June 6, 1865, quoted in Louise Chipley Slavicek, New York City’s Central Park (New York: Infobase Publishing, 2009), 79.
157 “Vast and beautiful”: New York Times, September 3, 1859.
157 “A royal work”: Atlantic, April 1861.
157 “Well, they have left it”: Cook, Description of Central Park, 110.
157 240,000 trees: Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin (Winter 2008).
158 “red-brown line; indigo-blue moulding”: Fred B. Perkins, The Central Park: Photographed by W. H Guild Jr. with Descriptions and a Historical Sketch by Fred B. Perkins (New York: Carleton, 1864), 36–37.
158 naturalistic, allegorical, or merely whimsical: Drawn in part from discussion of meaning of Mould carvings in Miller, Central Park, 49–53.
158 Secretly, Olmsted thought Green: FLO, manuscript fragment, reprinted in Papers , 3:57.
159 “for a rainy day”: FLO to Kingsbury, July 16, 1848.
160 On June 13, 1859: Papers, 3:11.
Chapter 13: Growling Green
161 “There is not one”: FLO to JO, September 23, 1859.
161 “thoroughly worn-out”: Ibid.
161 lingo of the day for medicinal spirits: Interview, JM with Terry Reimer, director of research, National Museum of Civil War Medicine, May 7, 2009.
162 After seeing him off: Details of Mary watching boat depart contained in MPO to FLO, October 2, 1859.
163 “Dear little woman”: FLO to MPO, October 6, 1859.
163 On October 11: Chronology and many details of trip drawn from FLO to Central Park board of commissioners, December 28, 1859, reprinted in Papers, 3:234–242, with annotations.
164 “I must confess”: MPO to FLO, October 10, 1859.
164 “Green here.... He growled”: MPO to FLO, October 24, 1859.
164 “Upon my word Olmsted”: Vaux to FLO, October 1859 [no day specified in letter].
165 a silver spoon: Francis Kowsky, Country, Park, and City: The Architecture and Life of Calvert Vaux (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998), 140.
166 “I return with greatly improved”: FLO to Central Park board of commissioners, December 28, 1859, reprinted in Papers, 3:236.
166 “ignorant of a park, properly so-called”: Olmsted monthly report to Central Park board of commissioners, read on October 13, 1857, reprinted in FLO Jr. and Theodora Kimball, eds., Forty Years of Landscape Architecture, vol. 2 (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1922), 58.
166 $1.50-a-day salaries: FLO to Central Park board of commissioners, November 13, 1860,
reprinted in Papers, 3:282.
166 derisively called “sparrow cops”: Roy Rosenzweig and Elizabeth Blackmar, The Park and the People (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1992), 242.
166 The park keepers made 228 arrests: FLO to Andrew Green, April 29, 1860.
166 No murders happened: Rosenzweig and Blackmar, The Park and the People, 2.
167 “direct strangers to different”: Notice posted in Keepers’ Room, November 10, 1860, reprinted in Papers, 3:279.
167 “Central Park Visitors are Warned”: Regulations for the Use of the Central Park, drawn up by FLO, November 3, 1860, reprinted in ibid., 279.
167 “carriage rests”: FLO Jr. and Kimball, Forty Years of Landscape Architecture, 2;413.
168 “It is quite expensive”: Andrew Green to FLO, November 12, 1860.
168 “None were cut”: FLO to Green, November 15, 1860.
168 “I recollect the willows”: Green to FLO, November 15, 1860.
169 “Although an error”: Green to FLO, July 26, 1860.
169 “Just in the earliest”: FLO to JO, June 14, 1860.
169 “young pugilist”: MPO to JO, June 29, 1860.
170 Olmsted and Vaux as “landscape architects”: Papers, 2:267.
170 “unconscious influence”: Carla Yanni, The Architecture of Madness: Insane Asylums in the United States (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2007), 9.
171 Kill out the Lunatic Hospital: John Butler to FLO, December 3, 1872.
Chapter 14: Swans
172 would surely kill him: FLO to JO, October 21, 1860.
173 little John Theodore died: Genealogy, FLO Papers, Library of Congress.
173 She took to her bed: FLO to JO, October 21, 1860.
173 “Whilst expressing my deep regret”: Mr. Asboth to FLO, 1860 [date unspecified in letter].
174 outlay of twelve and a half cents: FLO to Central Park board of commissioners, January 22, 1861, reprinted in Papers, 3:307.
174 “a systematic small tyranny”: FLO to Vaux, March 25, 1864.
174 “Not a cent”: FLO to John Bigelow, February 9, 1861.
174 “I have fixed”: FLO to JO, September 23, 1859.
Genius of Place Page 48
