Last updated: June 11, 2024
Place
Presque Isle Park
Olmsted Archives
Quick Facts
Peter White, an original settler of Marquette, understood the city was growing and believed it needed a park. In 1857, Michigan State Legislature was due to distribute lands granted to them by the United States, one of those pieces of land being a lighthouse reservation. White wanted that land so badly, he ran for a seat in the House of Representatives and won.
White only served one term, though he spent the rest of his life advocating for Marquette. For 29 years the land stayed reserved for light houses (2 still remain to this day), but as the Park Commissioner for Marquette, he personally lobbied Congress to give the land to his city in 1886, finally getting the park he had worked so hard for.
In 1891 Frederick Law Olmsted to make his way to Marquette. He was in the Midwest, working on the Chicago Worlds Fair, when he came to the tiny town surrounded by Michigan wilderness.
After doing some sightseeing, he was asked to draw up a management plan suggesting how the land could be turned into a proper park. Olmsted, always the environmentalist, wrote Marquette an impassioned letter on what to do with the land.
“It should not be marred by the intrusion of artificial objects… Preserve it, treasure it, as little altered as may be for all time… We beg to congratulate Marquette on having one of the most beautiful parks in the world, and to earnestly advise that its natural beauty be religiously preserved at whatever inconvenience, as it will be worth far more than everything that art and wealth can create in a park.” -Frederick Law Olmsted 1891, in his letter of recommendation to Marquette on Presque Isle
Olmsted’s letter was taken as gospel by Marquette, and Presque Isle maintained its midwestern wilderness for years to come.
Source: "Presque Isle," The Cultural Landscape Foundation
For more information and primary resources, please visit:
Olmsted Research Guide Online
Olmsted Archives on Flickr