Existing comment:
Central Park and Civil War
In 1858, Frederick Law Olmsted partnered with architect Calvert Vaux in winning a planning competition to design and expand Central Park. In the next years, they oversaw creation of a "park for the people" in the midst of the urban city. In 1859, Olmsted married his brother John's widow, Mary Olmsted, and became stepfather to her children. As the Civil War commenced, Olmsted served as executive secretary of the US Sanitary Commission from 1861 to 1862. He coordinated volunteer relief to soldiers and implemented a "floating hospital" shipboard transport service for the wounded. |