I've been going through all the material I photocopied from the Library of Congress'  Olmsted Associates Records.  I decided to copy records not specifically related to Pulaski Park, from other work the Olmsted Firm completed for the city of Holyoke.  I thought it might provide some interesting context.  Context indeed!  I came across a very interesting letter. 

In 1907, Holyoke's Mayor Avery commissioned (and the Aldermen funded) the Olmsted firm to plan for Holyoke's growth.  Holyoke was the first industrial planned city, and it's growth beyond the initial layout by the Hadley Falls Company was happening in a haphazard way that irritated Mayor Avery. Olmsted completed the plan, but the Mayor was not at all happy with the results.  He wrote back to Olmsted,

"While Holyoke is a manufacturing city and is dingy enough in many ways, it has a rare location.  Many of its citizens are alive to the possibilities of this location but there are many more of its citizens who do not see these possibilities at all.  If something could be said which would work to open the eyes of this last named class, it would seem to me helpful."

Wow.  What do you think about what Mayor Avery had to say 100 YEARS AGO!