By Edward Orser, Professor of American Studies

At a time when Baltimore's city parks face dire budget constraints and the superintendent recently was forced to resign for the alleged inefficiency of his bureau, there is good reason to reaffirm the foundation laid for the park system in the first half of the twentieth century by the landscape architectural firm founded by Frederick Law Olmsted and to apply Olmsted-inspired insights to the challenges confronting city parks in the years since.

My own research and civic involvement on the West-side Gywnns Falls Valley provide the basis for both convictions about the park system. I have conducted research with a student team to produce an exhibit and booklet on the history of Gywnns Falls/Leakin Parks, served as urban historian for the Gwynns Falls Trail Master Plan and co-authored a recent brochure outlining a driving tour of Baltimore's West-side park spaces.

Continuing the nationally-renowned work of their father, the Olmsted Brothers -- son, Frederick, Jr., and stepson, John -- completed a major master plan for Baltimore in 1904 and follow-up reports in 1926 and 1940. Fundamental to the plans was the vision of an integrated system of diverse landscapes -- multipurpose parks, playgrounds, stream valley parks and parkways -- knit together to serve the needs of a growing metropolis for green space and recreational opportunities.

The Olmsted Brothers valued the near-pristine landscape of the upper Gwynns Falls Valley, which had "the character of a wooded gorge" and "scenery [that] is remarkably beautiful of a picturesque and sylvan sort seldom possible to retain so near a great city." But the same could not be said for the lower portion, an area of historic usage as a transportation artery, mill site, and location for functions best performed outside the settled city, like stockyards and butchering.

Portions of the Olmsted plan for the Gwynns Falls were implemented over time with the expansion of parkland along the stream valley, aided by a bequest from Baltimore lawyer Thomas Leakin which made possible the acquisition in the early 1940s of the Crimea, formerly the summer estate of Thomas Winans, nineteenth-century locomotive designer and railroad builder.

The 1904 Olmsted report called for the city to acquire and protect the major stream valleys before development overran and despoiled them. The substantial portion of the Gwynns Falls Valley annexed to the city in 1918 by mid-century indeed had witnessed the kind of development the Olmsted Brothers had prophesied. Today, urban neighborhoods along the valley run an economic gamut -- from some of the city's most impoverished to relatively stable and even more affluent communities.

Over the past half century Baltimore's parks have suffered from increasingly tight city budgets and been assigned low priority among competing urban needs. However, the Gwynns Falls Trail represents a major recent initiative in the tradition of the Olmsted vision of greenways. The planned 14-mile hiker-biker trail will traverse the Gwynns Falls from Leakin Park's Crimea area to the Inner Harbor. The initial 4.5-mile section is already in use; the second phase is under construction; and the final harbor linkage is to begin shortly.

So, what would be the elements of a year 2002 Olmsted-inspired vision for the Gwynns Falls Valley?

*Projects like the trail promise to fulfill the Olmsted concept of park connections, and these need to network into surrounding neighborhoods as well.

*Today's concentration of population necessitates greater provision for multipurpose park uses, as in the recent development of recreational facilities at Leon Day Park, named for the Negro League great.

*Stream valley parks in a highly urban setting require substantial management and upkeep not envisioned a hundred years ago.

*The health of a stream valley park in the new century will only be as strong as the health of the neighborhoods that surround it, so parallel neighborhood revitalization efforts are imperative.

If you're interested in the Olmsted impact on Baltimore's park system and the kinds of issues I've raised here, you might want to obtain a unique brochure published by the Friends of Maryland's Olmsted Parks and Landscapes, outlining a driving tour of major West-side parks - Druid Hill, Gwynns Falls/Leakin, and Carroll. As an urban historian, I served as co-author on a team that included landscape architects, landscape architectural historians, civic activists and designers. For a copy of "Baltimore's Public Landscapes: From Private Estates to the Public Domain," (available at a cost of $5) contact me or write to the Friends of Maryland Olmsted Parks and Landscapes, PO Box 16244, Baltimore, MD, 21210-0244.