CHAPTER I
SUPERINTENDENT OF CENTRAL PARK

1857–1858

This Chapter Contains Olmsted’s description of his efforts in the summer of 1857 to secure appointment as superintendent of construction of Central Park, and of the political difficulties he encountered as superintendent. The memoir “Passages in the Life of an Unpractical Man” describes his first dealings with Egbert Viele, the park’s engineer and his antagonist for years to come. It also gives a vivid picture of Olmsted’s introduction to the park’s labor force in the midst of the unrest caused by the Panic of 1857.

Other documents, notably the reports to the park board of October 6 and 16, show the extent of Olmsted’s knowledge, as he began work on the park, of such matters as thorough drainage and the importation of trees and shrubs. In the report of October 16 he indicates what plant materials should be used in different sections of the park, and describes the kinds of scenery he would like to see created there.

The last letter in the chapter, to his father, reveals how hard Olmsted drove himself in the months following the death of his brother, John Hull Olmsted—superintending the park during the day and devoting much of the night to designing a plan for the park and completing A Journey in the Back Country.

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