Project Details Page

synopsis

Although Olmsted and Vaux worked on early aspects of the Buffalo Park System together, their separation as partners in 1872 led Olmsted to redesign Niagara Square independently. In his 1874 report to the Buffalo Park Commission, Olmsted rejected the then popular idea of transforming the square into a public garden. He suggests, rather, to plant trees and provide seating

Although Olmsted and Vaux worked on early aspects of the Buffalo Park System together, their separation as partners in 1872 led Olmsted to redesign Niagara Square independently. In his 1874 report to the Buffalo Park Commission, Olmsted rejected the then popular idea of transforming the square into a public garden. He suggests, rather, to plant trees and provide seating in the eight triangular turf plats, available in the space between the intersecting streets of Delaware, Niagara, Court, and Genesee. The plan also proposed a central fountain surrounded by a bicycle wheel-way, proposed to be no narrower than 60-feet wide, and walk-ways.

Architect Henry Hobson Richardson, already hired by the Board of Commissioners, designed an arch to serve as a memorial to the soldiers of the Civil War. Olmsted requested the arch be placed “on one side of the Square and so as to span one of the wheel-ways…In this position it would be seen in its best aspect…The best light will then fall upon it; its inscriptions will therefore be more legible and its sculpture will have the best effect.” [FLO to Buffalo Park Commission_1874_ Papers of FLO-v.7-p.101]. Although Olmsted’s plan was approved, construction never commenced due to lack of funding.

Today, the McKinley monument stands in the center of the square, in memory of the President’s 1901 assassination.

more