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Heritage Project – 1908 Olmsted Park Plan
A design that has
significantly contributed to Spokane’s quality of life.
The 1908 Spokane
“System of Parks and Parkways” by the Olmsted Brothers, Landscape
Architects of Brookline, Massachusetts
set the foundations for a park system that improves quality of life for
everyone in Spokane, regardless of age or economic status.
Implementation of this design was thanks to the foresight of Aubrey L.
White, Spokane’s first Park Board President, the Board of Park
Commissioners, and the Spokane citizens who passed a one-million dollar
bond issue in 1910 by a narrow 18 vote margin for land acquisition.
In addition, it’s
important to note the Park Board members and staff who have for the past
99 years continued to honor the Olmsted Report by referring to it for
direction; as well as the citizens who use, enjoy, and support our parks
system – making it one of Spokane’s most cherished assets.
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Upriver Parkway, Manito Boulevard and Rockwood Boulevard were all
recommendations of the Olmsted Report. Other themes of the report
that are evident in Spokane's park system today include:
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Every home, from humble to grand, should be within easy walking
distance of a neighborhood park.
Spokane's parks are evenly spaced from north to south, east to
west.
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The more parks the better.
The
Olmsteds believed that parks were a necessary and healthy antidote
to the stresses of city living. The report recommended at least 20
new Spokane parks in addition to the 10 already in existence.
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A
great deal of parkland should be left natural and undeveloped,
especially large parks on the edges of the city. They noted that
"reservations of country scenery" become more and more necessary as
cities grow.
Today, Spokane holds large tracts of parkland that are essentially
wild, including Palisades Park on the city's western rimrocks, and
Hangman Park between High Drive and Latah Creek. Close proximity of
city and nature has become a valuable and defining feature of
Spokane; as people are recognizing how desirable and rare it is to
have the best of both worlds in one place.
The
benefits of these early visionary plans include Spokane’s public
gardens, trails, playfields, parkways and nature corridors. These
places form an exceptional park system that sets our city apart from
anyplace else. |
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