Project Details Page

synopsis

J.C. Olmsted, in his 1894 recommendations to the newly formed Essex County Commission, proposed South Mountain with its spacious scenery and interesting topography as an ideal large reservation. The many scenic advantages to develop park space in Essex County were first noted by F.L. Olmsted, Sr and Calvert Vaux in their 1867 report

J.C. Olmsted, in his 1894 recommendations to the newly formed Essex County Commission, proposed South Mountain with its spacious scenery and interesting topography as an ideal large reservation. The many scenic advantages to develop park space in Essex County were first noted by F.L. Olmsted, Sr and Calvert Vaux in their 1867 report, although their efforts then were mostly concentrated on a large swath of land in Newark, now Branch Brook Park.

The Park Commission initially chose Nathan Barrett & John Bogart to be the planners of record for an Essex County system, as the Commission went about acquiring suitable land. The designs produced by Barrett & Bogart between 1895 and 1897, in great detail for Branch Brook but schematically for South Mountain and other parks, proved to be 'fussy,' very expensive to implement and maintain, and thus impractical for the Commissioners who were trying to make their initial investment stretch over the county-wide area. Their contract was terminated, and the Olmsted firm was hired in 1898 to develop a large and varied system, establishing a professional relationship which lasted until the 1960s.

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