Friends of Pulaski Park

Sigh.  Still trying to understand what Pan Am needs to help us move the view clearing project forward.  I knew this project would take a long time, everyone told me that, but SHEESH!

In their defense, I think Pan Am's hearts really are in the right place.  As a railroad, their first job is...well....being a railroad!  They obviously have a million items to attend to, and removing invasive species along a 4/10 of a mile section of their hundreds of miles of property perhaps does not rise to the same level of importance as the project does for the residents of Holyoke.

So, to tide you over until a specific path forward is made clear (get it?) here are some groovy photos.  Since I can't figure out how to add captions below, I'll put them here.  The first two photos are courtesy of the Olmsted Historic Site.

1. Photo taken by Frederick Law Olmsted's firm in 1907 of the parapets along the promenade, along with some commentary about the quality of the concrete.  See that VIEW?!?!  This is looking southeast.

2. Another shot of the park pre-Olmsted design.

There is a state grant program within the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) that supports the care of 'Heritage Trees' and the planting of new trees in urban parks.  According to the grant, Heritage trees have a circumference of 32 inches or more - in other words - big old trees.  Friends of Pulaski Park is applying later this fall for a grant from the DCR, to fund the assessment and care of all the Heritage trees in Pulaski Park and the planting of a few trees in spasely covered areas where trees used to provide shade but for whatever reason have been removed.  To a layperson's eyes, most of the large specimens in the park look okay, but a few seem to be struggling.  The grant requres a dollar for dollar local match.  If you can help, please send us a tax deductable donation using our 'support' link above.

The trees in the park are a huge part of the charm of Pulaski Park.  We want to make sure they have a long and healthy life, and that areas where trees have been removed are replanted with native species.

We've met with the DCR representative, the Parks and Recreation Department and are paying for a certified arborist to come out to the park, check out the trees and their condition, then make specific recommendations for actions.

Wish us luck! 

Hi folks!  I hope you're enjoying your summer.  I would enjoy mine a little more if the view clearing project was moving a little faster.  I'm still waiting for the railroad (Pan Am Railways) to complete their due diligence around an idea they had for simplifying the clearing process.

So keep keepin' your fingers crossed!

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!

I have NO idea if this worked or not, but I created a walking tour of Pulaski Park on Google Maps and tried to import it to our 'What's New?' page.  Feel very very free to add your pictures to the tour!

Hi folks!  Friends of Pulaski Park has been in contact with Pan Am railroad since our last blog entry, and they have been nothing but helpful and willing to cooperate with our river view clearing project.  They are investigating one way to go for the view clearing.  Once they've completed their due diligence, we'll know more about how this work can proceed, who will be responsible for what, and who's going to pay for the work.  These things, as I'm sure you know, take time.

I toured the park with an environmental consultant, and he tells us that there are large specimens and vast quantities of invasive species on Pan Am's property, species such as Honeysuckle, Norway Maple, Black Locust, and Asiatic Bittersweet.  Why do we care?  Two reasons:  One, according to this consultant,  environmental regulations encourage Invasive Species Removal because they choke off native tree species and other native species.   Some of these trees, however, are 40 feet tall, so I'm not sure how they get taken out.  The environmental consultant said erosion control is managed by replanting an area with low-growing native species.  Two, the vine-type invasive species, especially bittersweet and honeysuckle, will eventually choke off and kill trees, which would then create a dangerous situation for the railroad.

There is also an environmentally allowable view clearing option called "Vista Pruning."  Vista Pruning allows 10% of a canopy to be strategically thinned to open up a view. 

Bear in mind that even though the two types of clearing outlined above are ALLOWABLE, we would still need to seek an ENVIRONMENTAL PERMIT from the city, the state, or the feds, depending.  More time, more money.

Wish us luck, and if you'd like to help down the road, please sign in on our 'Support Pulaski Park' page.

The first big project we'll be working on is the clearing of the river view along the park promenade wall.  This first project was chosen in follow-up to a park Master Plan completed in 2001.  The city commissioned the master plan as part of improvements to the walkways and balustrades. 

In the Mater Plan's survey, the clearing of the river view was overwhelmingly (84% of respondents) the first improvement requested by park users.  The river view clearing must be in compliance with Railroad regulations, Wetland Protection requirements, Endangered Species Regulations, and Army Corp of Engineering rules.  The land that would be cleared is owned by Pan Am Railroads.  They will, understandably, be concerned about issues such as erosion and safety.  Friends of Pulaski Park looks forward to working with Pan Am on this project.

Check out how great the view used to be on other pages of this site!  While it certainly won't ever look like that again, it can certainly be better than the wall of green you see now.


The project will involve fund-raising, assessments, environmental permits and getting the railroad to agree to the work.  If you can support our work financially, we would be so appreciative.  We are a 501(c)3 Charitable organization, so all donations are completely tax deductible.   Send your donations to:

Friends of Pulaski Park
4 Open Square Way, Suite 214
Holyoke, MA 01040

I fnally got a look at the microfilm reel from the Library of Congress Manuscripts Division.  LOC is the caretaker for the Olmstead Associates records, which includes most correspondence between the firm and its clients.  The microfilm reel I ordered was sent to the Holyoke Room, which is housed in the Holyoke Community College Library.  Penni there was most helpful!

In 1901, the firm was hired to asses four parks in Holyoke: Hampden Park, Germania Park, Prospect Park, and Elmwood Park.  By 1907, the firm had actively worked on four different parks in Holyoke: Jones Point Park, Riverside Park, Elmwood Park, and Prospect Park (Pulaski Park.)  Beyond the initial assessment in 1901, it does not appear as though the firm worked further on Germania Park or Hampden Park. 

The firm's work on Elmwood Park and Riverside Park appear to be much more extensive than their work on Pulaski Park.  Elmwood and Riverside Parks were in a much more natural state, with dingles, ridges, brooks, and various land owners to contend with and plan for, whereas Pulaski Park was relatively flat and already owned entirely by the city.

When the city hired the firm of Frederick Law Olmstead in 1907 to redesign what was then Prospect Park, Olmstead Junior came out to Holyoke to assess the situation.  There are four photos at the Olmstead Historic Site from his visit.   Here's one of them. 

Is anyone out there a whiz with Photoshop?  Because these images need some serious help.  I'm a Photoshop amateur, but I did my best with unsharp mask and minor image adjustments.  This picture is taken from where Mater Dolorosa school is now, about where Maple Street ends. 

In the foreground, there are cobblestone steps that lead to the park.  You can see the mighty Connecticut River roaring  in the distance behind a paltry (by today's standards) fence along the steep bank down to the railroad tracks.  Pretty cool.

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.