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synopsis

Seaside Park’s significance lies not only in its coastal design, but also in it representing the first work of Olmsted and Vaux beyond the borders of New York City. As the name suggests, Seaside Park borders Long Island Sound and now has over 2 miles of waterfront views. In 1867, the establishment of a public park in Bridgeport, CT, was encouraged by showman and resident, P.T. Barnum.

Seaside Park’s significance lies not only in its coastal design, but also in it representing the first work of Olmsted and Vaux beyond the borders of New York City. As the name suggests, Seaside Park borders Long Island Sound and now has over 2 miles of waterfront views. In 1867, the establishment of a public park in Bridgeport, CT, was encouraged by showman and resident, P.T. Barnum. The local celebrity, an advocate for the beautification of the town, helped finance the project and petitioned for neighbors to donate parcels of their waterfront land to the city. Once 44 acres were acquired, Olmsted and Vaux were hired as the lead landscape architects. While an article from an 1867 issue of the Bridgeport Evening Standard discusses the pair’s design report and an atlas plan shows the area, there are no existing drawings or plans to reference. However, the construction of a sea-wall and the Olmstedian layout of pedestrian and vehicular paths, give indication that their initial plans were implemented to some degree. A topographical map from 1875 and 1877-80 of Seaside Park and Bridgeport, shows three entrances to the park and three greens surrounded by carriage roads. In his 1884 report on fellow Bridgeport landscape Beardsley Park, Olmsted wrote “...the site of Sea Side Park will be found narrow, flat, low and nearly associated with the traffic, bustle, and noise of the city streets, and the commerce of the harbor. Though called a park, it can never be much more than a garden on a large scale...It will never be a popular playground.” (See job 00691) [Beardsley Park Landscape Architects’ Preliminary Report_FLO&J.C.Olmsted_1884-09] Although the park grew and expanded in the late 19th century, the Eastern section of the 325-acre park reflects some of the firm’s design.

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