In 1888, in response to requests for a park which would be more conveniently located for the residents of the rapidly expanding southern portion of Buffalo, Frederick Law Olmsted prepared a design for a new "South Park", which he suggested be located on the Lake Erie waterfront, at the southerly city line.
The park, which would have occupied a site of over 240 acres, was to have provided space for more active forms of recreation than available at The Park. A 20 acre greenspace called "the Green" was intended as both a play area and a location for periodic mass amusements. A bathing beach was be established on Lake Erie, and along the park's southerly edge an athletic field of three acres, complete with running track, was proposed. The largest portion of the park, about 180 acres, was to be occupied by a lagoon with multiple islands, the largest of which would be over 20 acres in area, connected with the land by a footbridge, which would be used as a picnic ground, with canals for boating. The several railroads which ran to the east of the site, Olmsted proposed, should be consolidated. A viaduct over them would then provide carriage access to the park. He also suggested that a ferry service be established from downtown to the site along a nearly four mile long canal and levee combination. To the east of the relocated railroad tracks, he suggested a firing range for the use of the local militia, with a toboggan run and sledding hill sharing the space for winter use, when the firing range would be flooded and used for ice skating.
Plan of the Proposed South Park (1888).
Unfortunately, the plan was turned down by the Park Board after a lengthy and spirited period of public debate due to its expected cost and the perceived difficulties of maintaining the low-lying site against the periodic ferocity of storms blowing in off Lake Erie. The Board still considered the need for a park in the southern portion of the city to be of great importance, but it proved difficult to locate an alternative site. It finally decided to construct two parks of smaller size (Cazenovia Park and present South Park) instead of one. Unlike the original plan for South Park at the lakeshore site, these parks were not sufficiently large to meet Olmsted's criteria as a true "park", and lacked the unique association with the lake offered by the 1888 plan.
� 1997-2003 by Stanton M. Broderick.
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