We drove out to South Boston, the temporary home of the Frederick Law Olmstead Historic site archive. Their actual site is in Brookline, Massachusetts, but it is undergoing major renovation, so the records, staff and office are currently at a climate controlled site in South Boston.
The staff couldn't have been nicer and more helpful. I took a TON of pictures and will slowly peck away at posting them.
The FLO historic site had two six foot long plans, one from the city to the firm, showing the park layout pre-FLO intervention, and one plan from FLO to the city, showing their proposed design.
Remember, Holyoke was awash in cash at the turn of the century, and so FLO worked on many projects here. For example, he was hired by the city to work on a project names 'Riverside Park.' This maybe called Springdale Park now, we're not sure. FLO Jr. came out to Holyoke and took many many images of the city in 1907. There is an entire series taken from City Hall Tower. Here's one showing what is now Open Square and the pointy top of the Opera House. In all the images, the canal district is laden with smokestack haze.
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