Olmsted City of Greater Utica

Olmsted City is a 501 (c) nonprofit that promotes the well-being of and awareness about the impact that Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., and Olmsted Brothers had on the landscape of Utica, New York, over the course of decades, beginning in 1906. The Olmsted contribution to Utica included designs for a 630-acre parks and parkway system that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and five residential real estate development projects. Utica was also the subject of one of Olmsted’s first urban planning reports (1906-08). 

Because at least one-tenth of Utica was Olmsted-designed, we seek to promote Utica as an “Olmsted city” and to make that part of the city’s self-narrative and therefore the way outsiders view the community. We strive to rehabilitate historic fabric and enhance its appeal in ways consistent with Olmsted designs and aesthetics. We also seek to create a healthy ecosystem by improving water management, removing invasives from the landscape and planting trees, shrubs and flowers native to the region. In doing all this, our ultimate goal is to promote public health, quality of life and community pride.

Olmsted City is currently in the midst of an 8-10-year project to rehabilitate Utica’s 62-acre Frederick T. Proctor Park, which was the culmination of nearly a decade of intermittent collaboration between Olmsted, Jr., Olmsted Brothers, and local philanthropist Thomas R. Proctor, who originally brought Olmsted to Utica to design the 385-acre Roscoe Conkling Park. Proctor and Olmsted also successfully promoted the construction, according to Olmsted’s design, of a winding, tree-covered, three-mile parkway (which is itself a park covering over 60 acres) connecting Roscoe Conkling, F.T. Proctor and Thomas R. Proctor parks.