CHAPTER IV
April 1876–December 1876

This chapter marks the early stages of three remarkable projects in Olmsted’s career—the New York State Capitol, the Boston Park system, and creation of a city plan for the Bronx. Letters to William Dorsheimer and Charles Eliot Norton describe the aftermath of the protest of the New York chapter of the American Institute of Architects to the proposal of the advisory board of Olmsted, Leopold Eidlitz, and H. H. Richardson to complete the state capitol in a different architectural style than that adopted for the first stories of the edifice. The letter to Charles Dalton of April 8, 1876, shows the influence that Olmsted exerted on the 1876 proposal by the Boston park commissioners for an extensive park system in their city. The reports of November 1876 by Olmsted and the engineer to J. J. R. Croes spell out the general principles of their plan for the Bronx and explain their design for the first section, between Riverdale Road and the Hudson River.

Other documents present Olmsted’s design proposals for public parks in several cities during this period. The report to William Martin of August 1876 describes in detail Olmsted’s proposal for a new design for Tompkins Square in Manhattan, while his letter to Thomas Lanahan contains his imaginative proposal for the treatment of four small squares adjoining the Washington Monument in Baltimore. Three letters to H. A. Nelson describe issues relating to major design elements of the work on Mount Royal, and the letters to William Macmillan and Dennis Bowen chronicle ongoing construction of the Buffalo parks. The letter on Landscape Gardening to The Garden provides a clear statement on Olmsted’s views concerning the use of monumental and architectural objects in parks.

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On more personal topics, the letter to his son contains a curious, cautionary tale, while his comments to Charles Eliot Norton of December 27, 1876, reveal the intensity of his response to the presidential election of that year.