April 26, 2022, marks the 200th birthday of Frederick Law Olmsted, author, conservationist, social reformer, and America’s seminal landscape architect. Olmsted and his successors designed some of Chicago’s most beloved and important greenspaces. The city joins more than 120 organizations across the United States that have come together to celebrate the bicentennial in a campaign called Olmsted 200: Parks for All People.

In partnership with the Hyde Park Historical Society, Chicago park historian Julia Bachrach leads free walking tours of Frederick Law Olmsted’s iconic Chicago landscapes: Jackson Park, Washington Park, and the Midway Plaisance.

On this tour, learn about the Olmsted firm’s three successive designs for Jackson Park: the original plan of 1871, the dazzling fairgrounds for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition; and the transformation of the site back to parkland after the fair. Highlights include the iconic Wooded Island.

Meet in front of the Statue of the Republic (E. Hayes Drive, just east of S. Richards Drive).