Franklin Park

Franklin Park was meant to be the crown jewel of the Emerald Necklace, Boston,s famed park system. It was also meant to be the epitome of Frederick Law Olmsted,s distinguished career as the father of American landscape architecture. Its 527 acres of open space have been a salvation from urban plight and also the center of urban controversy. Today the community around the park remains strong and depends upon the work of volunteers, advocacy groups, and the City of Boston. The photographs in Franklin Park have been collected from a variety of personal collections and public archives in an effort to illustrate the park,s history from its inception in the 1880s through its rebirth in the 1990s.

Julie Arrison began working with the Franklin Park Coalition and at the Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Park as a volunteer before starting her graduate education in Northeastern University's public history program. Her research into the Franklin Park Bear Dens has been published as a Historic American Buildings Survey.