Olmsted, Frederick Law (1822-1903)

US landscape designer. Appointed superintendent of New York's Central Park 1857, Olmsted and his partner Calvert Vaux directed its design and construction. After the American Civil War 1861-65, he became a sought-after planner of public parks, designing the grounds of the World's Columbian Exposition 1893.

Olmsted, born in Hartford, Connecticut, became interested in scientific farming and founded a successful nursery business 1844. A keen observer of social and economic conditions, he published his travel journals of the South as Journeys and Explorations in the Cotton Kingdom 1861.