South Park

South Park was one of two parks built in Frederick Law Olmsted’s Southside Park System of the 1890s. After the establishment of the Buffalo Park System twenty years prior, Olmsted, Olmsted & Eliot assessed the south side of the city to create a plan for a park and parkway system. He wanted the new green space to have an entirely different character from its eastside counterpart.

In his first plans for South Park in 1888, he proposed a location along Lake Erie to cater to active recreation and the nearby working class. Concerned about the safety of south Buffalo due to the presence of railroads tracks and commonplace vehicular accidents, Olmsted drew plans for a viaduct that included a series of dedicated roads above the ground. The waterside park was to feature an athletic field, a green, a pleasure road, and most interestingly “a body of water nearly a mile in length and a third in breadth, within which the elevations will form islands, savannas, capes, and peninsulas.” [FLO&J.C. Olmsted to City of Buffalo Park Commission_1888-10-01_Papers of FLO-v.1-p.585]

The 1888 plan never materialized and the site on Lake Erie’s shore was not used due to financial and flooding concerns. The firm’s second proposal, developed from 1892-94, was drastically different but ultimately approved by the Board of Commissioners. The site chosen for the park was inland, a mile from the shore, and over 150 acres large. While Olmsted was dissatisfied with the location, the park contained a small lake, filled with water from the nearby Cazenovia Creek. The entrance at McKinley Parkway (12201) led directly to a large conservatory, later completed in 1898 by Lord and Burnham Co. The remaining grounds consisted of a meadow, nursery, and arboretum.