Wiedorn in Kansas

New Orleans landscape architect William Wiedorn (1896-1990) taught landscape gardening at Kansas State Agricultural College from 1920-1924. During part of that time, the college advised on more than 201 landscape gardening efforts in 32 counties. While some 18% were public parks, the vast majority were private residential beautification projects.(1)

Wiedorn worked with horticulture professor Albert Dickens to supervise the improvement of the state capitol grounds in Topeka. They installed an underground irrigation system and recommended turning under an expanse of Sudan grass followed by a blue grass sowing. (2)

Dodge City hired the young landscape designer to superintend the planting of nearly 800 trees and shrubs in its Wright Park.(3) Other projects included the Augusta High School, Kansas State Penitentiary (Lansing), the Osawatomie Hospital and the Kansas State Tubercular Sanitarium (Norton). The latter is shown below.

The former tuberculosis hospital is now home to the Norton Correctional Facility.

(1)"College Lends Aid in Kansas Landscaping." Industrialist 18 October 1922.

(2)"Dickens and Wiedorn Help Beautify Capitol Grounds." Industrialist 28 September 1921.

(3)"Farmers as Guests." The Hutchinson News 13 April 1922.

Images above:  "William S. Wiedorn" in The Royal Purple. Detail enhanced. 1922; The Royal Purple. Detail enhanced. 1924. "Landscape Gardening" in Sixth Biennial Report of the State Sanatorium for Tuberculosis, Norton, Kansas for the Two Years Ending June 30, 1924. Topeka, 1924.

Loeper's Park (1879-1901)

We recently came across mention of Loeper's Park, located on two municipal squares in the Second District, marked "A" and "B" above. The park served picnickers, social clubs, veterans' groups, baseball players and performing artists. It was located on ridge land, and its alignment along the railroad track that served the Spanish Fort meant that those seeking entertainment venues could easily* jump on/off along this corridor.

The upper section of the park was a "concert garden" shaded by mature live oaks, mulberry and acorn trees. It had shelled drives and walkways, and was outfitted with a 100 x 90' dancing platform.

The lower section served as a baseball park. Various "Niners" battled it out here:


August 1879              Dr. Szabary Nine v. Lightning Nine

April 1891                 B. Landau & Co. Nine v. L. Goldstein & Sons Nine

September 1891         Asphalts v. Rosettas


In 1901, the park accommodated cornetist Oscar M. Giovanni and the "Colored People's Family Resort Minstrel Show." It served as the meeting place for the Ninth Regiment U.S. Volunteer Infantry (AKA "The Ninth Immunes"), the city's Spanish-American War veterans.(1)

*Sometimes not so easily, as attested to by various state tort claims.

(1) For more on the Immunes, see W. Hilary Coston. The Spanish-American War Volunteer. Middletown, PA: By the author, 1899. E725.7.C8 Louisiana Research Collection, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.

and

Fletcher, Marvin. "The Black Volunteers In the Spanish-American War." Military Affairs (April 1974): pp. 48-53.

Image above:  Index map. Digitally enhanced detail. Atlas of the City of New Orleans, Louisiana, based upon surveys furnished by John F. Braun, surveyor and architect, New Orleans. Published by E. Robinson, New York. [AKA The Robinson Atlas]. 1883. Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.

Segregation Forms

Dillard University architect Moise H. Goldstein (1882-1972) designed the Richard Berthelot Lemann Memorial Park in 1934 (illustration above). The playground was built on city land that had resulted from the overfill of the former Carondelet (Old Basin) Canal. Site clearance and grading took nearly a year to complete.

Touro Infirmary Chief of Staff Dr. I.I. Lemann and his family donated $15,000 for materials and equipment, and federal emergency relief workers (FERA) supplied the labor. Under Mayor T. Semmes Walmsley's administration, the city offered the former canal site extending from Marais Street to North Prieur. Additionally, the city agreed to the Lemann family's stipulation that should the city ever use the site for other purposes, the city would develop a new Richard B. Lemann Memorial Playground elsewhere.

The playground was originally segregated by race, gender and size. From Marais to North Claiborne - the section closest to the Municipal Auditorium - the playground was for white children.  From North Claiborne to Prieur, the playground was for black children.  Each park had its own designated girls and boys areas, and separate areas for small children and big children.

The North Claiborne entrance to each playground section featured memorial iron gates, each with its own plaque. The two playground sections were entirely surrounded by fencing in order to protect the children from "automobile hazards."  Park superintendent Lawrence Di Benedetto proclaimed the fenced enclosure a "new era" in playground design.(1) Since the park's namesake had died in an automobile accident, the safety feature was apropos.

The dedication ceremonies were held on June 16, 1925, with the riverside section celebration at 4:00 pm and the lakeside section following at 5:00 pm. FERA bands performed at both events, although the evening celebration had considerably higher attendance numbers.

To see the gates today, click

here

and

here.

(1)Di Benedetto, L. "2 Playgrounds To Be Dedicated." New Orleans States 14 June 1925.

Image above:  "Drawing of Lemann Memorial Playgrounds." The Times-Picayune New Orleans States 30 December 1934.

NEW! Audubon Park Finding Aid

The Southeastern Architectural Archive recently finalized the processing of its Audubon Park Drawings. The collection includes scant architectural renderings – mostly blueprints – and one set of specifications pertaining to Audubon Park, situated on the former Foucher Plantation Tract and now located in the Sixth Municipal District of New Orleans, Louisiana. Two sheets reflect the park’s layout in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, one sheet indicating the position of Horticultural Hall (1884) and its proximity to the Louisiana Science and Agricultural Association’s experimentation station, designed by James Freret (1889). Four drawings are products of the Olmsted Brothers’ office in Brookline, Massachusetts (1918-1924). These are based on blueprint copies of New Orleans architect Emile Weil’s bandstand (1916-1921). Another set of blueprints and specifications reflect park commissioner Walter Cook Keenan’s designs for the flying bird cage in the Audubon Park Zoo, a Works Progress Administration project (1936; 1948) that replaced an earlier structure by Sam Stone, Jr.

 If you are unfamiliar with the Southeastern Architectural Archive's holdings, consult its list of "Finding Aids by Collection Name."

William S. Wiedorn

William “Bill” Shaffrath Wiedorn (1896-1990) was a prominent landscape architect and town planner. Born in Baltimore, Maryland, he graduated from Waterbury High School (CT), and then served in the United States Army during World War I as a Second Lieutenant in the infantry division’s machine gun section. After receiving his Bachelor of Science (1919) and while completing his Master of Landscape Design (1921) degree at Cornell University, Wiedorn was a member of the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC). During this period, he also worked as an assistant designer for the Olmsted Brothers in Brookline, Massachusetts. In their employ, he contributed to the development of large estate subdivisions and park design. Most notably, he devised the planting and grading of the Rolling Rock Country Club in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.


Image above:  William S. Wiedorn, landscape architect. New Orleans City Park Administration Building and the Climatron Area. [Detail].  George J. Riehl, chairman, Technical Advisory Committee. 16 June 1965.