You have probably driven right by Stansbury Park on the way to the Speed Museum or Iroquois Park without knowing that it is the central greenspace in one of Frederick Law Olmsted’s masterpieces, Louisville’s Olmsted Park system.
Louisville has one of only four completed Olmsted Park systems in the country—the others are the Emerald Necklace in Boston, the Olmsted Park system in Buffalo, and the Olmsted Park system in Rochester.
Olmsted’s concept of the park system intended to comfortably connect people from different neighborhoods and walks of life, building community and creating equitable access to nature. Today, the park system still serves as a vital piece of infrastructure, with the parkways acting as green ribbons allowing multimodal connections through the city to each of the flagship parks.
At the heart of Louisville’s Olmsted Park system is Stansbury Park. If you think of the park system like a wheel, the parkways fan out like spokes from Stansbury Park to the three flagship parks: Shawnee in the west, Iroquois in the south, and Cherokee in the east.
When Louisville’s Olmsted Park system was designed, the Louisville School of Reform’s land blocked access from the city to the parkway that provided connection to Iroquois Park. Mayor Charles Jacob had already purchased a right-of-way between the school and Iroquois Park, a property known at the time as the “Grand Boulevard.” We now know it as Southern Parkway. The school gave the property for the park to the city in 1900 when Third Street was extended, and the Olmsted firm completed the master plan for Stansbury Park in 1909.
Originally the park was called the Third Street Triangle, followed by the Third Street Playground. In 1916, it was known as Triangle Park. Mayor Harvey Sloane renamed it Stansbury Park in 1985 after the death of William B. Stansbury, who served as Louisville’s mayor from 1977 to 1982.
Today, Stansbury Park provides much-needed green space to the surrounding neighborhoods. It still serves as a critical link in our Olmsted Park system, near where the three parkways should have connected, allowing people to travel throughout the city by bike or foot. Olmsted Parks Conservancy is exploring ways to work with city leaders to implement a master plan to fully realize the vision for Stansbury Park.
Click HERE to see the Stansbury Park Master Plan!
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