Last updated: October 31, 2023
Place
Union County Park System
Olmsted Archives
Quick Facts
Location:
Union County, NJ
Significance:
Olmsted Designed Park
MANAGED BY:
By 1921, Union County’s population had surpassed 200,000 and was in need of park space, and a commission to help acquire the land needed. After forming the Union County Park Commission, Percival Gallagher of Olmsted Brothers was quickly hired to perform a countywide reconnaissance, evaluating the area’s potential for an expansive network of parks and riverside corridors, linked through cross-country parkways.
Just as Frederick Law Olmsted Sr. would have done, Gallagher proposed setting aside land for both passive and active recreation. The Olmsted firm’s plan was to create several large park units that would serve the entire country, as well as smaller parks to serve local communities. In their 1921 proposal, Olmsted Brothers wrote that “The attractiveness of much of the County, therefore, is to be found in its pleasantly undulating topography and the quiet pastoral character of the countryside, in which the chief details of lively interest are the many streams of water and ponds along their way. These streams and ponds, under the circumstances, become particularly important in any consideration of the natural physical features of the country.”
Despite passing away in 1934, Gallagher shaped a remarkably varied park system consisting of both urban and suburban parks, a mountain reservation, and parkways. Upon Gallagher’s passing, the Union County Park System paid tribute to his “wide vision, far-flung experience and high knowledge of the beautiful and the practical.” Olmsted Brothers, and later Olmsted Associates, continued advising the Union County Park Commission well into the 1960s.
Just as Frederick Law Olmsted Sr. would have done, Gallagher proposed setting aside land for both passive and active recreation. The Olmsted firm’s plan was to create several large park units that would serve the entire country, as well as smaller parks to serve local communities. In their 1921 proposal, Olmsted Brothers wrote that “The attractiveness of much of the County, therefore, is to be found in its pleasantly undulating topography and the quiet pastoral character of the countryside, in which the chief details of lively interest are the many streams of water and ponds along their way. These streams and ponds, under the circumstances, become particularly important in any consideration of the natural physical features of the country.”
Despite passing away in 1934, Gallagher shaped a remarkably varied park system consisting of both urban and suburban parks, a mountain reservation, and parkways. Upon Gallagher’s passing, the Union County Park System paid tribute to his “wide vision, far-flung experience and high knowledge of the beautiful and the practical.” Olmsted Brothers, and later Olmsted Associates, continued advising the Union County Park Commission well into the 1960s.