Franklin Park

Making up more than twenty percent of Boston’s Park System in acreage, Franklin Park is the largest green space in the city. From its acquisition in 1875, the 527-acre landscape was envisioned as a grand ‘Country Park’. Detailing his vision, Frederick Law Olmsted wrote “The prime object will be to present favorably to public enjoyment a body of rural and sylvan scenery, large in scale, simple and tranquil in character; and, in contrast as to foil this, passages of a wild, rugged, picturesque, and forest-like aspect.” Olmsted and his son, John Charles, designed the park with several distinct sections. Each offering unique pastoral and rustic elements, the sub-areas include The Country Park, Ellicottdale, Schoolmaster Hill, The Wilderness, The Playstead, The Greeting, and Refectory. The Country Park Meadow was transitioned into a golf course in 1896.

Completing two proposals, the first in 1885 and the second in 1891, Frederick Law Olmsted received initial opposition from park commissioners when the politics of the Park Commission Board changed hands. He gained approval after altering his plans, conceding to the inclusion of small ponds and water features despite his worry about the “difficulty of controlling the detail and making it natural and picturesque.” A zoo was added to Franklin Park in 1910 by landscape architect Arthur Shurcliff, who had worked at the Olmsted firm for eight years before starting his own firm in 1904. [Report on West Roxbury Park_1884-12-22_FLO_Papers of FLO-v.8-p.232] [FLO to Harry Codman_1892-07-30_LOC-FLOP-SF-Franklin Park-im.108]