A rare orchid grows in the shadows of a less-traveled area of Cherokee Park in Louisville. Hexalectris spicata, also known as Crested Coral Root, was found by Olmsted Parks Conservancy’s Team for Healthy Parks after an extensive invasive species removal project. The yellow-and-purple flowers favor the limestone cliffs near Alta Vista Road, an area where it’s a bit nebulous as to where the park ends and the Louisville Seminary property begins. In recent years, a sign above the cliffs advertised land for sale: a development opportunity with space to build more than 70 homes.
Cherokee Park is part of the legacy of Frederick Law Olmsted, the founder of American landscape architecture. Olmsted’s signature design concept is the park system, a network of neighborhood green spaces connected by parkways. This concept was most fully realized in Louisville, the last and ultimate park system of Olmsted’s career and one of only four such Olmsted systems in the world. One might say Olmsted planted the roots of the city. This year marks the 200th anniversary of Olmsted’s birth, and his contributions are scheduled to be celebrated on a national level.
“The parks are so thoughtfully designed,” said Olmsted Parks Conservancy Board Chair Summer Auerbach. “The parkways connect the parks together and the city as well. This was a visionary project that changed the outcome of Louisville.”
Olmsted’s remarkable career began in 1856, when he partnered with English-born architect Calvert Vaux to enter a contest to design a park in New York City. Their Greensward Plan was announced as the winning plan in 1858 and went on to be the blueprint for Central Park. While Vaux had extensive experience with landscapes, Olmsted had never before designed a park.
Later, Olmsted’s reputation attracted the attention of the Salmagundi Club, a Louisville literary group that spearheaded the earliest efforts to establish Louisville’s public park system. The club’s efforts gained speed in 1890, when jurisdiction over all city parks was transferred to the newly formed Board of Park Commissioners. Andrew Cowan, a Salmagundi Club member, invited Olmsted to Louisville, convinced that Olmsted was the only designer who could do justice to the club members’ vision for public parks in the city. Olmsted and his young associate, Henry S. Codman, sealed the deal at the Pendennis Club in 1891, having thoroughly impressed 20 prominent local citizens over dinner.
In addition to his work as a landscape architect, Olmsted was an abolitionist, conservationist and activist. He was a prolific writer and was hired by the New-York Daily Times (now The New York Times) in 1852 to report on slavery in the South. During the Civil War, he served as the first executive secretary of the United States Sanitary Commission, the precursor to the American Red Cross. These unique experiences gave him a keen understanding of the intersection of environment, politics and society. As a result, he advocated for inclusive and accessible parks for all people. Chickasaw Park is one of the most remarkable testaments to this philosophy, having been created by the Olmsted firm for the Black community during the segregation era.
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Earl Jones has been advocating for the Olmsted Parks since the late 1990s and now serves on the Olmsted Parks Conservancy’s Board of Trustees. He is particularly interested in focusing the conservancy’s efforts on Olmsted’s vision for the parks as equalizers for all people. “The parks are symbols of Louisville’s potential to return to its connections lost over the years—to heal what was lost due to neglect, disinvestment and redlining,” said Jones.
Olmsted believed parks should promote freedom and equality for park users while preserving the natural character of the land. As Louisville’s urban center grew denser, he understood only the wealthy had private gardens where they could escape the city’s pervasive noise and pollution. While the development of the “Big Three” anchor parks—Shawnee, Cherokee and Iroquois—formed the framework for Louisville’s park system, Olmsted placed great importance on small urban parks because of their accessibility to inner-city residents. Today, Olmsted parks continue to be major amenities for families across the city.
Olmsted’s final trip to Louisville was in March 1894. He retired in 1895 as his health declined, leaving management of the firm to his son, Frederick Law Olmsted Jr.; his stepson, John Olmsted; and Charles Elliott. While the senior Olmsted emphasized natural areas, the younger designers were more open to active recreation spaces such as athletic fields and playgrounds. Today, the Olmsted park system features a combination of rural retreats and urban green spaces that invite social opportunities. It is the perfect realization of Olmsted’s vision of the park system as a cultural landscape that connects nature and neighborhood.
The three signature parks offer different experiences. Iroquois beckons visitors to South Louisville with mature woodlands, rugged terrain and the signature Scenic North Overlook. Nearby, Frederick Law Olmsted Academies North and South are namesake schools in the neighborhood. Shawnee Park features an expansive Great Lawn and offers river access where the Ohio River curves to the south and embraces the west end of the city. Cherokee Park meanders through the Beargrass Creek valley and offers impressive natural landscapes in the Highlands neighborhood.
The Olmsted system in Louisville consists of 17 parks in all, including the Big Three and a variety of neighborhood parks. Olmsted’s influence extends beyond the park system, including design work in corporate settings, country clubs, and even entire neighborhoods such as Anchorage in Louisville and Ashland Park in Lexington.
As an avid cyclist, Jones has a profound appreciation for the park system. “You get a totally different view of the city when cycling,” he said. “There is a physical connection and engagement of the senses that give you a much greater appreciation for the logic of the park system that ties our community together.”
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In 2020, Louisville’s Olmsted park system experienced unprecedented use. The COVID-19 pandemic closed all but essential businesses, and the parks offered safe havens across the city. Volunteers found more time than ever before to pull invasive honeysuckle from wooded areas. Fitness groups moved their activities to the hills and lawns. Residents supported their favorite local restaurants by ordering takeout and setting up picnics. The quarantine seemed to shift everyone’s focus to the outdoors, and the park system was there to welcome us.
Even as the city rediscovered the value of the parks, there still was the matter of the land for sale near the rare orchids on Cherokee Park’s limestone cliffs. The park system is no stranger to the threat of development. John Swintosky, a prominent Louisville landscape architect with Louisville Metro Public Works, can list the ways that these historic parks have been endangered.
“Shelby Park was targeted to be the site of a school in the ’90s. Churchill Park was lost to development entirely. Shawnee and Chickasaw are bisected by a floodwall. Shawnee has a detention basin installed under the Great Lawn. The interstate was expanded through Cherokee Park … I could go on,” he said. “It’s essential for the community to buy in to these great assets. It would be a shame to let them slide into oblivion.”
About a third of the 25 acres for sale was treated as an extension of Cherokee Park, with trails and natural areas running through it. Development would have removed these areas from public use and encroached into the park. Fortunately, Cherokee Park neighbor Norman Noltemeyer stepped in to help. In late 2021, the Noltemeyer family made a gift of $8 million to Olmsted Parks Conservancy, which used the funds to purchase the property and save it from development. This year, the organization is poised to expand Cherokee Park with the first significant addition of land in more than 100 years.
“Just like city planners and Frederick Law Olmsted did for us in the late 1800s, the Noltemeyers had the vision and resources to protect this property for future generations,” said Olmsted Parks Conservancy President and CEO Layla George.
The Conservancy was created to advocate for the park system out of necessity. In the early 20th century, Louisville’s parks were thriving, and their influence inspired designs for civic institutions (examples include the grounds of the public library, the University of Louisville campus, and the landscapes of many private homes). By the 1980s, however, the parks were falling into disrepair, prompting concerned citizens to form “The Friends of Olmsted Parks,” which came together to try to breathe new life into these integral green spaces. In 1989, then-Mayor Jerry Abramson established a task force that recommended the creation of Louisville’s Olmsted Parks Conservancy to protect and restore this great public resource.
Summer Auerbach’s family members have supported Olmsted parks for generations. A grove near Willow Pond in Cherokee Park pays tribute to her grandmother Minx Auerbach, who, as the first female director of a City of Louisville department, worked to ensure that everyone would have access to outdoor resources. Her grandfather was a history buff, and her father is a cyclist who started the Tour de Olmsted bicycle event.
“People have a sense of pride in their neighborhood parks, but what we want to emphasize is the importance of investing in the whole Olmsted Parks system,” Auerbach said. “It promotes connection and unity in our city.”
“We can never forget for whom this great design was created,” Swintosky said. “Olmsted made these parks for the people—for all people. The parks interact with the public as great community treasures, and we must always protect them.”
Photos by Jesse Hendrix-Inman, Matt Spalding (Crested Coral Root), Courtesy of Olmsted Parks Conservancy (Frederick Law Olmsted) and Courtesy of University of Louisville (Hogan’s Fountain).