Hartford -- Bushnell Park

The two images consist of views of the park and the State Capitol. The Park, approved in 1854, became the country's first planned park financed with public money. The idea was developed through the efforts of Reverend Horace Bushnell. The park, however, was not built until six years later. Bushnell's neighbor and friend, Frederick Law Olmsted, was busy with Central Park in New York, but suggested Jacob Weidenmann as the landscape architect. Weidenmann's 1861 plan focused on informal gardens and walks using plant groupings to screen city buildings and industry. Architectural features, such as the Civil War Memorial Arch (1886), the Capitol (1876), Corning Fountain (1899), the Carousel (1974) and the Performance Pavilion (1995) were added. In the 1940's the Park River was buried and its bridges were demolished. A major transformation in the park occurred at this time when the firm of Olmsted and Olmsted of Brookline, Massachusettes was retained to assist the city in redesigning the Park.

Persons associated with the property and garden include: Jacob Weidenmann (landscape architect, 1861); The Olmsted Firm (landscape architects); and Rev. Horace Bushnell (developer).