Olmsted Documentary Airs June 28th on KCTS

The new documentary Frederick Law Olmsted: Designing America tells the story of Olmsted’s life and how his work, and that of his sons, has helped shape American cities and our ideas about the environment. It will be aired on KCTS (channel 9) on Saturday, June 28th, at 7:00 p.m.

Frederick Law Olmsted, known as the father of American landscape architecture, was co-designer of Central Park, head of the first Yosemite commission, leader of the campaign to protect Niagara Falls, designer of the U.S. Capitol Grounds, site planner for the Great White City of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, planner of Boston’s “Emerald Necklace” of green space and of park systems in many other cities. Olmsted’s pioneering design of the public parks and parkway systems in Buffalo, New York, is the oldest coordinated system in America and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. To Olmsted, a park was both a work of art and a necessity for urban life. His efforts to preserve nature created an “environmental ethic” decades before the environmental movement became a force in American politics.

The PBS website has a number of short essays about Olmsted and the Olmsted firms’ work across the United States. One page talks about the Olmsted Brothers firm’s work in the Pacific Northwest.

The website also has resources for educators, including classroom activities and a video created for classroom use.