Project Details Page

synopsis

Kentmere Parkway was one of the first finished elements within Wilmington’s park system. Ultimately completed by park commissioners instead of the firm, their final design was based on Frederick Law Olmsted’s 1890 plan and review.¶ ¶With the goal of acquiring land to build a park system, the Wilmington park commissioners hired Frederick Law Olmsted to consider possible park locations.

Kentmere Parkway was one of the first finished elements within Wilmington’s park system. Ultimately completed by park commissioners instead of the firm, their final design was based on Frederick Law Olmsted’s 1890 plan and review.

With the goal of acquiring land to build a park system, the Wilmington park commissioners hired Frederick Law Olmsted to consider possible park locations. As detailed in the 1895 Report of the Board of Park Commissioners, Olmsted was consulted frequently during the park’s early developmental stages. He drew plans for the design of the 14.7-acre long and 150-foot wide Kentmere Parkway. For its location Olmsted specifically chose a site along the Brandywine River that would serve as a connector between two future parks.

Olmsted removed himself from the project some years later, and today, William Poole Bancroft is known as the ‘father’ of the Wilmington Park System.

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