Join us for a presentation with architect, Clinton Brown, who along with Ramona Whitaker, authored Olmsted’s Elmwood: The Rise, Decline and Renewal of Buffalo’s Parkway Neighborhood, A Model for America’s Cities, as he shares an overview of how Buffalo began as a place in which to live well.

Rapid growth in commercial wealth and cultural sophistication after the opening of the Erie Canal expanded the reach of the former village into the booming city that bordered the primeval forest that became Forest Lawn Cemetery in 1849, also serving as Buffalo’s primary public park. After the Civil War, business leaders commissioned Frederick Law Olmsted to design a free public park for all, partly to relieve the overcrowding at the cemetery. Forest Lawn was a model for Olmsted, and partner Calvert Vaux, for their park and parkway designs from which emerged the Elmwood District. Olmsted’s Elmwood concludes with a call for a curatorial approach to managing an everyday living heritage landscape, that is employed at Forest Lawn, for the entire neighborhood.

Following the presentation, Clinton will take questions and have books available for purchase.

Registration is required as space is limited. A $10 suggested donation will be accepted at the door for the Forest Lawn Heritage Foundation, which helps to make programs like this possible for the community.

Important Information

Tickets: You do not need to print any ticketing information; attendees will be checked in by name.

Event Location: The event will take place at the Margaret L. Wendt Center located at 1990 Main St., Buffalo, NY 14208. Please enter the cemetery off Main Street, across from Jefferson Avenue. If you need to enter Forest Lawn at the Main Street Gate or Delaware Avenue Gate, just follow the blue line on the road which will take you to the Wendt Center. Doors will open 30 minutes prior to the event start time.

Parking: There is plenty of parking in front and to the right of the Wendt Center.

Questions: Please call us at (716) 427-0727 or email Amizetta Haj, Director of Community Engagement, at ahaj@forest-lawn.com