About the Louisville Parks System

Louisville’s parks and parkways were designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and his sons, Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. and John Charles Olmsted. It is one of the four completed park systems that Olmsted designed during his career, joining Buffalo, Boston and Rochester. 

In 1891, Olmsted was invited to Louisville by a group of prominent citizens. Impressed by his ideas, the group contracted with his firm for the development of a master plan for three multi-purpose parks. Olmsted’s designs for Cherokee Park, Iroquois Park and Shawnee Park took advantage of the topographical elements unique to each sector of the city. Nearly 15 miles of tree-lined parkways connected these parks, creating access and spurring the development of nearby neighborhoods across the city. 

Olmsted, and later his sons, were determined to make each landscape distinct yet cohesive. They advised the city park commissioners to “do all in your power to induce your people to wholly discard the idea of rival parks” and “to develop within each one of your three properties a treasure of rural and sylvan scenery.” 

As Louisville continued to grow, city leaders recognized the need for small, inner-city parks and looked to the firm for guidance. All in all, Olmsted and his successor firm developed plans for eighteen parks and six parkways: Algonquin Park, Baxter Square, Bingham Park, Boone Square, Central Park, Cherokee Park, Chickasaw Park, Elliott Park, Iroquois Park, Seneca Park, Shawnee Park, Shelby Park, Stansbury Park, Tyler Park, Victory Park, Wayside Park, Willow Park, Algonquin Parkway, Cherokee Parkway, Eastern Parkway, Northwestern Parkway, Southern Parkway, Southwestern Parkway, and Churchill Park (no longer extant). 

As the last park system created by Olmsted, Louisville’s parks and parkways remain an extraordinary asset and point of pride for the city. It is often deemed the “ultimate” park system of Olmsted’s career.  

The Louisville park system was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982, and in 1989, Olmsted Parks Conservancy was founded to work with the city and citizens to protect and restore the parks.