Olmsted’s Plan for Trinity College

Olmsted was involved as a consultant to Trinity College in its selection of a site for a new campus after the college had agreed to sell the College Hill campus to the State of Connecticut. The Board of Trustees concluded that Trinity would remain in Hartford, and would be moved to one of five locations: Penfield Place, off of Park Street, Summit Street, Farmington Avenue, Windsor Road, or Blue Hills Road.  Olmstead opted for the Blue Hills location, however the Trustees were unwilling to accept his suggestion so they postponed the selection[1].  He and Kimball were both intimately involved with the landscape architecture and design for the main quad, at that time consisting of Jarvis and Seabury Hall[2].

He was involved in a massive expansion plan to add “1: A Chapel; 2: Dormitories for the students; 3. A Hall; 4. Lecture and Recitation Rooms; A Library; 6. A Museum of Natural History; 7. N Astronomical Observatory; 8. An Art Gallery; 9. A Reading-room, etc.; 10. Houses for the President and those of the Professors who have families.”  Olmstead was commissioned with several jobs in order to help this plan come to fruition[3].

First, he was commissioned to provide the Board of Trustees with a topographical survey and preliminary lay-out of the whole tract[4].  He also believed that it was practical to to get all of the buildings involved in the plan on the slope between Summit and Broad street.  However, the Trustees deemed this impractical and conclude that the College property be kept secured to the land west of summit street, of which it claims control.  In doing this they would, in theory, keep the College property to what it already owned and not become involved in any more land exchange.  They broke ground on July 1, 1875 and finished the work during the winter of 1877-1878.  The first lecture was given on May 17, 1878.  It was a Chemistry lecture by Dr. H. Carrington Bolton.