Last updated: June 5, 2024
Place
Cherokee Park
Olmsted Archives
Quick Facts
In 1891, Frederick Law Olmsted Sr. addressed a group of Louisville civic leaders about establishing a park system in their city. Olmsted’s proposed three park designs around the city’s perimeter: Iroquois, Shawnee, and Cherokee.
Each park would reflect one of the region’s distinct native landscapes and at Cherokee Park, that landscape was devoted to more relaxing activities like walking, hiking, and horseback riding. With Olmsted, the Louisville Parks Commission created a network of parks and boulevards and is one of two park systems worked on by all three Olmsted’s.
Anchoring this network of parks and boulevards were the three large parks around Louisville’s perimeter, with Cherokee taking up the eastern section. After Olmsted Sr.’s tenure at the firm was over, Olmsted Brothers worked on Cherokee Gardens, Seneca Gardens, and the Alta Vista subdivision, which benefited from borrowing the scenery Cherokee Park offered.
In 1974, a tornado struck Louisville and resulted in the loss of thousands of mature trees at Cherokee Park. A massive replanting effort was undertaken, however, to qualify for federal funding, the park had to be restored to its pre-tornado design. To do this, the original Olmsted plants were consulted for the park’s “rebirth”, with 2,500 trees and 4,600 shrubs planted in the restoration effort.
Source: "Cherokee Park," The Cultural Landscape Foundation
For more information and primary resource, please visit:
Olmsted Research Guide Online
Olmsted Archives on Flickr
Olmsted Online
Each park would reflect one of the region’s distinct native landscapes and at Cherokee Park, that landscape was devoted to more relaxing activities like walking, hiking, and horseback riding. With Olmsted, the Louisville Parks Commission created a network of parks and boulevards and is one of two park systems worked on by all three Olmsted’s.
Anchoring this network of parks and boulevards were the three large parks around Louisville’s perimeter, with Cherokee taking up the eastern section. After Olmsted Sr.’s tenure at the firm was over, Olmsted Brothers worked on Cherokee Gardens, Seneca Gardens, and the Alta Vista subdivision, which benefited from borrowing the scenery Cherokee Park offered.
In 1974, a tornado struck Louisville and resulted in the loss of thousands of mature trees at Cherokee Park. A massive replanting effort was undertaken, however, to qualify for federal funding, the park had to be restored to its pre-tornado design. To do this, the original Olmsted plants were consulted for the park’s “rebirth”, with 2,500 trees and 4,600 shrubs planted in the restoration effort.
Source: "Cherokee Park," The Cultural Landscape Foundation
For more information and primary resource, please visit:
Olmsted Research Guide Online
Olmsted Archives on Flickr
Olmsted Online