Last updated: June 12, 2024
Place
Watertown Park
Olmsted Archives
Quick Facts
Location:
Watertown, NY
Significance:
Olmsted Designed Park
MANAGED BY:
Olmsted Brothers were contacted in 1899 by John C. Thompson, president of the New York Air Brake Company, about anonymously gifting a park to his city of Watertown, New York. Thompson’s office was in New York City, so he was already familiar with the work of the Olmsted firm. John Charles Olmsted took the lead on the design for the park, originally called Watertown Park.
On his first visit to the area on June 7th, 1889, the Watertown Daily Times reported that “John C. Olmsted, of Brookline Mass., the designer of the city’s projected park, is now in Chicago, looking after some landscape work there of which he has charge. On leaving there he will come directly to this city to make such changes in his designs as he deems advisable after inspecting the park as preliminary staked out. He is expected here the last of the week or the first of the next, and will probably remain several days. He will visit here frequently during the progress of the work.”
John Charles started by acquiring more than 700 acres of woods and fields that would provide scenic vistas over the growing city, leading towards Lake Ontario. An addition to part of the park plan was contiguous land for a residential development. John Charles produced his first plan for Watertown Park in 1901 and would spend the next two decades supervising construction at the challenging, rocky site.
The plan for Watertown Park included a formal tree-lined boulevard as the primary entrance, which would connect roads and paths curving through the park towards its summit. To mitigate the steepness, John Charles designed walls, overlooks, shelters, and steps that ascended the slopes, all accompanied by textured plantings. Upon Thompson’s death in 1924, his anonymity was taken away, and the park was renamed to Thompson to honor its founder.
Source: "Thompson Park," The Cultural Landscape Foundation
For more information and primary resources, please visit:
Olmsted Research Guide Online
Olmsted Archives on Flickr
Olmsted Online
On his first visit to the area on June 7th, 1889, the Watertown Daily Times reported that “John C. Olmsted, of Brookline Mass., the designer of the city’s projected park, is now in Chicago, looking after some landscape work there of which he has charge. On leaving there he will come directly to this city to make such changes in his designs as he deems advisable after inspecting the park as preliminary staked out. He is expected here the last of the week or the first of the next, and will probably remain several days. He will visit here frequently during the progress of the work.”
John Charles started by acquiring more than 700 acres of woods and fields that would provide scenic vistas over the growing city, leading towards Lake Ontario. An addition to part of the park plan was contiguous land for a residential development. John Charles produced his first plan for Watertown Park in 1901 and would spend the next two decades supervising construction at the challenging, rocky site.
The plan for Watertown Park included a formal tree-lined boulevard as the primary entrance, which would connect roads and paths curving through the park towards its summit. To mitigate the steepness, John Charles designed walls, overlooks, shelters, and steps that ascended the slopes, all accompanied by textured plantings. Upon Thompson’s death in 1924, his anonymity was taken away, and the park was renamed to Thompson to honor its founder.
Source: "Thompson Park," The Cultural Landscape Foundation
For more information and primary resources, please visit:
Olmsted Research Guide Online
Olmsted Archives on Flickr
Olmsted Online