Olmsted Park

Olmsted Park System
National Register of Historic Places
Historic District
location	Boston and Brookline , Massachusetts
Coordinates	42 ° 19 '33.2 "  N , 71 ° 6' 53.6"  W Coordinates: 42 ° 19 '33.2 "  N , 71 ° 6' 53.6"  W.
Built	1870
architect	Frederick Law Olmsted
NRHP number	[1] 71000086
The NRHP added	December 8, 1971

Hiking trail in Olmsted Park next to the Muddy River

The Jamaica Pond

The Olmsted Park is an elongated Park in Boston in the state of Massachusetts of the United States and part of the Emerald Necklace system from Parks and Parkways . The Olmsted Park was originally named Leverett Park and was only in 1900 in honor of his spiritual father Frederick Law Olmsted renamed, who developed the plans of the parks.

Olmsted, who had earned his good reputation through the design of New York's Central Park , recommended in 1880 that the swampy and brackish Muddy River be included in the plans for Boston parks. In 1890 work began to give the river a new bed and to convert the large swamp into Leverett's Pond . The Ward's Pond was also connected by a small tributary.

The park's proximity to the Longwood Medical and Academic Area and easy access to the MBTA make the park a popular destination for walkers and cyclists.

Structure and structure

The Olmsted Park can be roughly divided into two quite different parts. In the south it borders on Jamaica Pond and offers space for sports facilities and three ponds : From south to north these are a narrow kettle lake ( Ward's Pond ), the small Willow Pond and the much larger Leverett's Pond . The northern part of the park consists essentially of a narrow strip of grass through which the Muddy River flows on its way into the Charles River . The north end of the park borders the Back Bay Fens and the west end of the Mission Hill neighborhood .

Work and changes in the park

After the Master Plan of the Emerald Necklace Park System was completed in 1989, further improvements were made in Olmsted Park later , some of which were summarized in an updated version of the Master Plan 2001. In 1997 , the Riverdale Parkway was converted from a street into a pedestrian and bicycle path. The Allerton Overlook at the base of Allerton Street in Brookline has been restored, pedestrian bridges have been repainted and a boardwalk has been laid out at the southern end of Ward's Pond .

In 2006 , the City of Brookline restored Babbling Brook , part of the Muddy River in the park, by setting new stones, removing knotweed plants that had penetrated , redefining the river bed and replanting trees and shrubs to ward off future wild growth.

The Muddy River Restoration Project

From the very beginning, Olmsted Park was regularly flooded by the Muddy River, which had been diverted through Olmsted and partly buried in the course of the creation of the Emerald Necklace . The Muddy River Restoration Project is dredging contaminated sediments and making other structural improvements, including bringing the river back to the surface and improving its completeness, appearance and flood control capabilities.

The Friends of Leverett Pond

The Friends of Leverett Pond was the second group of Friends of Olmsted Park to be founded in Brookline in the 1970s with the aim of maintaining and maintaining the park. She has served as a subcommittee of the High Street Hill Association since 1978, working to improve the condition of the park and raise awareness of problems.

Individual evidence

1. ^ National Register Information System . In: National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service . Retrieved July 9, 2010.
2. ↑ Olmsted Park. (No longer available online.) In: The Emerald Necklace Conservancy. Archived from the original on November 25, 2011 ; accessed December 10, 2011 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
3. ↑ Emerald Necklace Master Plan. (No longer available online.) In: Maintenance and Management Oversight Committee. Archived from the original on May 11, 2008 ; accessed on December 11, 2011 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
4. ↑ Babbling Brook Restoration. (No longer available online.) In: High Street Hill Association. 2006, archived from the original on February 13, 2012 ; accessed on December 11, 2011 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
5. ^ Hugh Mattison, The Muddy River Dredging Project: Protecting Our Past and Our Future. In: Muddy River Project. December 20, 2007, accessed December 11, 2011 . 
6. ^ Flood Control. (No longer available online.) In: Maintenance and Management Oversight Committee. Archived from the original on October 2, 2008 ; accessed on December 11, 2011 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
7. ^ Environmental Values ​​Assessment Report On the Muddy River Restoration Project: Summary. Archived from the original on October 22, 2009 ; accessed on December 11, 2011 . 
8. ^ Friends of Leverett Pond. (No longer available online.) In: High Street Hill Association. Archived from the original on September 22, 2013 ; accessed on December 11, 2011 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  

Web links

• The Olmsted Park on the site of the city of Boston