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Olmsted and Piedmont Park History

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Here are five fun facts about the Olmsted family and its influence on Piedmont Park.

  • Frederick Law Olmsted was the co-designer and builder of Central Park.  He was the foremost Landscape Architect of the last half of the 1800’s and did many major commissions including the grounds of the US Capitol, the 1893 Columbian Expo in Chicago (setting of Devil in the White City) and the grounds of Biltmore House in Asheville. Other prominent projects include Brooklyn’s Prospect Park, Boston’s Emerald Necklace, and the campuses of Wellesley, Smith, and Stanford.  He was an early voice for conservation and contributed to the plans for Niagara Falls and Yosemite.
  • Olmsted designed the Druid Hills neighborhood in Atlanta and the Linear Parks along Ponce still maintain his plan.  While in Atlanta in 1894, Olmsted consulted with the planners of the Cotton States Expo. (Landscape Architect Grant Wilkins is credited with the design as built.)
  • The city of Atlanta purchased the derelict Expo grounds for a city park in 1904. In 1911, the city hired Olmsted’s sons to draw up a master plan for Piedmont Park.  Their firm wasn’t hired to build the plan, but much of the Olmsted Brothers’ design was implemented through the years, including the Park Drive Bridge of 1916, and it heavily influenced the Master Plan approved in 1993.
1912 Olmsted Plan

Olmsted Brothers’ 1912 Piedmont Park Master Plan

  • Olmsted principles of park design can be seen in Piedmont Park’s meandering roads and paths which curve and cross each other, making triangles.  The winding walks and changes of elevation provide interest with ever-changing views.  Wide open fields are interspersed with trees, lakes and natural plantings.  Different areas of the park host varieties of activities. Olmsted’s ideas continue to be highly influential.  He has been called the Father of Landscape Architecture.
  • Olmsted’s scenic, relaxed pastoral style made the enjoyment of nature a benefit available to everyone and a respite from the stresses of city life.  Olmsted believed in parks as a social good providing relaxation and improved health for people of all levels of education and income. (Compare to parks with straight paths and formal gardens, originally available  only to the wealthy, showing dominance over nature.)

Parks are the only places where vast numbers of persons are brought closely together, poor and rich, young and old, each individual adding by his mere presence to the pleasure of others.

– Frederick Law Olmsted, 1870

This quote is engraved in one of the blocks in the horseshoe-shaped donor monument in front of Dockside (historically known as the Visitor Center, Ladies’ Comfort Station).

Author: Ginny Connelly, Piedmont Park Conservancy Docent

Want to learn more about Piedmont Park’s history? Join us for a tour which features Olmsted’s influence and many other stories along the years. Tour Webpage

In March and April of 2022, Piedmont Park Conservancy is a proud partner of the #Olmsted200 Celebration and will be offering guided history tours focused on Olmsted’s influence. Learn more at Olmsted200.org.

A Community Space for Atlanta, A Historical Perspective

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“During my childhood in the seventies, Piedmont Park was one big everlasting festival.  There was the old swimming pool and bathhouse where my brother Bird and I swam in the summer, diving off the platforms and slipping down the giant slides into the water.  It was where we learned to play.”

This quote from longtime Atlanta resident and novelist Celestine Sibley reflects many visitors’ experiences at Piedmont Park. Some know the Park as a place to exercise and play, while others think of it as the home of many outdoor events and festivals.

Piedmont Park was first used as a gathering place for an Atlanta Civic group, The Gentlemen’s Driving Club.  The club purchased the 189-acre Walker family farm in 1887.  They were looking for a place outside of the city (Atlanta was about 3 miles to the South) where they could congregate and exercise their horses.  The group of prominent businessmen (including Charles Collier and Henry W. Grady) also wanted to use the space to host expositions to promote the prosperity of the Piedmont region of The United States.  To that end, they formed the Piedmont Exposition Company, which held their first exposition at The Gentlemen’s Driving Club later that same year.

There were 20,000 visitors to The Piedmont Exposition on opening day, October 10, 1887 and over 50,000 people attended on October 18th to see President Grover Cleveland. Also, in attendance was the Executive Committee of the World’s Fair organization. They were on hand to determine if Atlanta was ready to host a World’s Fair. The event closed on October 22 with a total attendance of about 200,000. When the exposition was over, civic leaders said that it had successfully expanded Atlanta’s reputation as a place to visit and to conduct business.  The site, formerly known as “The Walker Farm,” had an official name change to “Piedmont Park.”

Piedmont Park was soon to host yet another impressive fair.  The Cotton States and International Exposition’s goals were to foster trade between southern states and South American nations as well as to show the products and facilities of the region to the rest of the nation and to Europe. Approximately 800,000 attended the three-month exposition which ended on December 31, 1895.

Photo Credit: Atlanta History Center

Events and exhibits at the Cotton States and International Exposition included: a performance of “King Cotton March” conducted by John Phillip Sousa, Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, the Liberty Bell, The Streets of Cairo, The Women’s Building, and The Negro Building.  The very popular “Shoot the Chute” ride (a waterslide with boat-cars) was later moved to Lakewood Park. The Exposition even included the first ever showing of a projected motion picture which used a projector called a Phantoscope, the patent of which was later sold to Thomas Edison.


Photo Credit: Atlanta History Center

Piedmont Park has always been a popular place for sports.  Georgia’s first intercollegiate sporting event was held in the Park on February 20, 1892. The University of Georgia (UGA) and the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Alabama (now known as Auburn) met head-to-head for the very first time. Nearly 125,000 swimmers swam in lake Clara Meer every year from 1911 until 1960. Atlanta’s first professional team, The Atlanta Crackers played their first baseball game against Nashville on Saturday, April 26, 1902 before a crowd of around 3,500. The Park was also home to Atlanta’s first golf course.

Atlanta’s largest urban park is also “the place” for intramural sporting events. In 2016 alone, the Active Oval (containing a running track, two soccer fields, two softball fields and two sand volleyball courts) had over 68,000 reserved players on its fields. The Park is also home to The Sharon E. Lester Tennis Center, a fully staffed, public facility, offering play on 12 lighted hard courts as well as bocce and basketball courts.

Nothing brings people together like live music and Piedmont Park has hosted some of music’s biggest stars, including The Grateful Dead (1969), R.E.M. (1982), The Black Crowes (1992), Dave Matthews Band (2007), Paul McCartney (2009), The Eagles (2010), Pearl Jam (2012), Journey (2013), and Elton John (2015).

The Atlanta Jazz Festival has been bringing thousands of visitors to Piedmont Park since it was founded by Mayor Maynard Jackson in 1978. Some of the artists that have participated in the Festival include Lionel Hampton (1980), Miles Davis (1983), Etta James (1986), Dizzy Gillespie (1988/1990), Wynton Marsalis (1989), Nina Simone (2000), Ray Charles (2002), Herbie Hancock (2000) and Macy Gray (2017).

In 2019, about a third of Piedmont Park’s 6 million visitors were attendees of special events or festivals. While these large events bring the world to Atlanta’s “Front Lawn,” it is the smaller events and family gatherings, like family reunions, birthday parties, and weddings, that truly make Piedmont Park our favorite gathering place.

Author: Patrick Teague, Piedmont Park Conservancy Docent

 

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Story Behind Sidney Lanier Monument

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In 1866, Sue Harper, a 23-year-old from Brandon, Mississippi with a “shell-like complexion and violet eyes” met Civil War Veteran Livingston Mims from Jackson, Mississippi. They fell in love and were soon married.

The couple moved to Savannah, Georgia in 1876. After visiting Atlanta, Mrs. Mims fell in love with the city and persuaded her husband to move his business, the Southern Department of the New York Life Insurance Company, to Atlanta.  In 1879, the couple moved into their Queen Anne-style house at the corner of Peachtree Street and Ponce DeLeon Avenue.

Guests to their house, named “Heartsease”, included President Grover Cleveland (twice), President William McKinley and Jefferson Davis.

In 1901, Major Livingston Mims became Mayor of the City of Atlanta.

Mrs. Mims’ love of literature guided her to start the first Shakespeare Club in Atlanta, as well as the Browning Society. She also became the first president of the Home for the Friendless which aided deserted children.

Upon her death, Sue Harper Mims bequeathed money obtained from the sale of her jewels be used to erect a monument to Sidney Lanier in Piedmont Park.

Sidney Lanier, a friend of the Mims and frequent visitor to their home, was considered one of America’s greatest poets whose poems expressed the social concerns of that day. His more famous works are “The Song of The Chattahoochee” and “The Marshes of Glynn.”

Author: Patrick Teague, Piedmont Park Conservancy Docent

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Cover Photo Credit: Marcia Brandes

Aerial View Active Oval

The First Georgia vs. Auburn Football Game in 1892

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Cool weather, changing trees and tailgates are all the recipe for a perfect fall season. No matter what team you’re rooting for, college football is a part of southern culture. In the South, our fall seasons are filled with traditions, and when it comes to college football, our traditions are dutifully upheld.

Whether you are the biggest Georgia Bulldog fan in the south, an Auburn War Eagle, or somewhere in between, it’s hard to escape the South’s oldest rivalry. While Athens might be a far step from Atlanta, one of the Bulldog’s oldest traditions originated in the heart of Atlanta at Piedmont Park. 

In the middle of winter on February 20, 1892, the University of Georgia (UGA) and the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Alabama (now known as Auburn) met head-to-head for the very first time [1][2] on what is now the Piedmont Park Active Oval. While football might have looked a bit different back then, the rivalry has always been strong. Georgia Bulldog fans might be sad to learn that they lost the game 10-0, but for Auburn, legend has it that the famous “War Eagle” cheer started at this game[1].

2020-Blog GeorgiaAuburnShare

So far, the traditional game has only been missed five times making it one of the oldest and most played traditions in sports history[1].

While many Georgia and Auburn fans won’t be in Sanford Stadium cheering on their team, they are still keeping the spirit of this traditional game alive from their living rooms.

Whether you yell “Sick ‘Em” or “War Eagle,” don’t forget about this game’s humble beginnings right in the heart of Atlanta at Piedmont Park.

Visit our Piedmont Park History page for more interesting information about the Park’s past!

Park History

Author: Olivia O’Brien


[1] NCAA.com, Brenden Welper. (2019, November 16). Georgia vs. Auburn football: All-time series history, scores, notable games. NCAA.com. https://www.ncaa.com/news/football/article/2019-11-16/georgia-vs-auburn-football-all-time-series-history-scores-notable 

[2] Wikipedia contributors. (2020, May 31). Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_South%27s_Oldest_Rivalry