Forest Park (Springfield)

Forest Park
Laurel Hill and Aquatic Gardens
Location	Springfield, Massachusetts in Massachusetts, United States
Area	736 acres (2.98 km2)
Created	1884 (1884)
Operated by	Springfield Parks Department

Forest Park in Springfield, Massachusetts, is one of the largest urban, municipal parks in the United States, covering 735 acres (297 ha) of land overlooking the Connecticut River. Designed by the renowned landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, Forest Park features a zoo, aquatic gardens, and outdoor amphitheater, in addition to typical Olmsted design elements like winding wooded trails, and surprising, expansive views. The site of America's first public, municipal swimming pool, currently, during the holiday months Forest Park hosts a popular high-tech lighting display, known as Bright Nights.

In 1884, Springfielder Orick H. Greenleaf offered 65 acres (26 ha) for the establishment of a park to be named Forest Park. Shortly after, approximately 178 acres (72 ha) were donated by wealthy philanthropist Everett Hosmer Barney. Barney made his fortune as a Civil War arms producer and later as a businessman, inventing clamp-on ice skates and rollerskates.

In 1890 Barney built an elaborate, turreted  2 ¹⁄₂-story Victorian mansion on a hill at the west end of his estate, which featured a spectacular view of the Connecticut River and Metro Center Springfield. The mansion's elaborate carriage house still stands, today serving as a restaurant and banquet hall in Forest Park.

To create the parcel of land on which Forest Park was built, Greenleaf and Barney convinced several of their wealthy friends and neighbors to donate much of the remaining land that would ultimately make-up the 735-acre Forest Park. They both became members of the Board of Park Commissioners, which also listed John Olmsted (resigned on March 1, 1886). At the time, much of this land was located in the neighboring suburb of Longmeadow, Massachusetts, (which had separated from Springfield nearly a century before the construction of Forest Park.) Ultimately, Longmeadow ceded complete control of Forest Park to the City of Springfield.