The Mysterious Miss Bullard: Fleeting Fame, Enduring Legacy

WOMEN IN LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE

The Mysterious Miss Bullard: Fleeting Fame, Enduring Legacy

BY OLIVER GAFFNEY, ASLA

Courtesy: The Cultural Landscape Foundation T hough the history of landscape architectural practice in Connecticut is often syn-
onymous with Frederick Law Olmsted, he was never a member of ASLA. Further-
Elizabeth Bullard more, none of the 11 founding members of ASLA came from Connecticut.
In 1899, Elizabeth Jane Bullard of Bridgeport, Connecticut was duly elected as an ASLA
Fellow. She had been the first non-founder and the second woman to become a member of
ASLA (Beatrix Farrand was the first). Miss Bullard was 52 years old and in the prime of her
career. She had been overseeing the transplanting of trees in Prospect Park before Farrand
was born, so could rightfully claim to be the first professional female landscape architect.
But her achievements quickly receded from institutional memory. Bullard was conspic-
uously absent from Norman T. Newtown’s Design on the Land as well as a number of other
early histories. How could a prominent early mother of the profession be forgotten?

From Bullard Hill to Beecher’s Farm meetings and correspondence, the two men
forged a devoted friendship. Olmsted quit the
Elizabeth was born in Sutton, Massachusetts Commission in 1863, but Oliver continued to
on January 11, 1847 to Oliver Crosby Bullard serve until its dissolution in 1867.
and Sarah Jane Hartwell. She was the second of
six siblings, and the eldest daughter. For reasons The Making of Miss Bullard
that are unclear, the Bullard family chose to leave
the ancestral farm at Bullard Hill when Eliza- In 1867, the Bullard family departed the
beth was young, to relocate to Indianapolis. Beecher farm to live in bustling Brooklyn, New
In 1858, Oliver’s brother-in-law, Reverend York. Olmsted wrote to Oliver, seeking his
Henry Ward Beecher, hired him to work as the assistance with overseeing the construction of
principal of his model school for young boys Prospect Park. The effort was to be a consider-
in Lenox, Massachusetts. However, Beecher able undertaking, and Olmsted needed full-time
soon observed that Oliver was a better superin- superintendents on site to ensure that the work
tendent of his fields than a headmaster and so proceeded according to his plans.
requested that Oliver manage his larger farm in Oliver Bullard enthusiastically accepted the
Peekskill, New York. offer to become supervisor of planting, but soon
In Peekskill, these 36 acres of Hudson River realized that he required assistance, so he hired
valley farmland provided a living laboratory for Elizabeth. She methodically observed the prog-
Elizabeth. Under the watchful eye of her father, ress of planting operations and relayed reports
she learned agronomy, cultivation practices, and to her father for further action.
project management, which would serve her
well throughout her career. continued next page
When the Civil War erupted in 1861,
Oliver Bullard was still eligible to be drafted for Oliver Crosby
military service. By early 1862, he left to serve Bullard
with the United States Sanitary Commission, a
precursor to the modern Red Cross. His in-laws,
the Beechers, were prominent fundraisers for the
Sanitary Commission and may have urged him
to serve so that he could avoid being drafted.
Oliver Bullard frequently visited the offices
of the Sanitary Commission’s Executive Sec-
retary, Frederick Law Olmsted. Through their

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The Mysterious Miss Bullard cont’d Long Island Sound. They wished to have the land developed
so that all city residents could improve their health by taking
Together, the Bullards were responsible for the planting in the sea air. Eleven years later, cattle broker James Walk-
and transplanting of the park’s trees and shrubs to transform er Beardsley donated 100 acres of his estate to the City of
the site’s unkempt, swampy appearance into a handsome, Bridgeport for future development as a park. Olmsted and
inviting landscape. In 1867, some 43,292 trees and shrubs his adopted son John Charles were commissioned to provide
were planted in the park. Olmsted and Oliver Bullard cor- the design, and they soon contacted Oliver Bullard about
responded frequently about the plans and the horticultural collaborating. The Bullards eagerly accepted the opportunity,
techniques for achieving the desired landscape effects. and relocated the family to a rented apartment on Sherwood
Existing copses of native trees were pruned, shaped, or Avenue. In 1885, the City of Bridgeport appointed Oliver
edited out of the landscape. Some of the best specimens along Bullard as Superintendent of Parks to oversee the ongoing
forest edges were transplanted into the park’s open meadows construction of both Seaside and Beardsley Parks. Elizabeth
using a tree-moving machine invented by John Yapp Culyer, assisted in an advisory role.
another Sanitary Commission alumnus and assistant engineer Tragedy struck on October 25th, 1890 when Oliver Bul-
of Prospect Park. Hundreds of trees were moved each year, lard died suddenly. His passing was widely noted and much
including 843 in 1870 alone. Elizabeth was fascinated by the mourned in Bridgeport society. Frederick Law Olmsted,
spectacle of the work, later recalling that himself in poor health, sent a late condolence note to Sarah
and Elizabeth on December 1st. He followed up with a letter
Each operation was rushed with amazing rapidity but to Park Commissioner William Noble on December 2nd,
with military precision and there was no hesitation doubting that Noble could “find a man half as good as Mr.
about remaining after hours to complete the work. Most Bullard without paying him a larger salary than you paid Mr.
of the Park officers, and many of the men, had been Bullard.”
with the armies of the Civil War, and the discipline In the same letter Olmsted endorsed Elizabeth as a
was perfect. worthy candidate to become Parks Superintendent:

Putting the Parks in the Park City I have the honor to reply that I knew Miss Bullard while
she lived with her lamented father upon Prospect Park,
In 1867, P.T. Barnum and other wealthy citizens engaged Brooklyn; of her interest in his work there, and of her
the Olmsted firm to create plans for Seaside Park in Bridge- promise as an artist. […I]f Miss Bullard is willing to
port along 35 acres of swampy, flood-prone property abutting

Courtesy Prospect Park Archives

Right: John Yapp
Culyer’s Tree
Mover, Prospect
Park, 1867.
Below: Historic
scene in Beardsley
Park, Bridgeport.

Courtesy Bridgeport History Center, Bridgeport Public Library Seaside Park plan and modern view.

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assume the official responsibilities of her father with away from home. [...] I anticipate to continue his life of
regard to them, I should presume her to be qualified to Landscape Gardening. I have been happily proceeding
do so, and advise her appointment as her successor. to the satisfaction of my patrons, who are to be sure, my
The employment of a woman in this position being friends and perhaps a little bit partial.
unusual, this operation will be watched with much
interest […] your board should be prepared to trust Private Practice and Later Years
much to her discretion and to support her against any
possible prejudice. […] It would, in my judgment, be Elizabeth continued working on numerous private com-
more prudent to give her greater freedom of discretion in missions across New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Mary-
all matters of her duty, rather than less than you would land, and Virginia, but no information on the particulars of
be prepared to give a man under similar circumstances. the clients or projects have been documented. One notable
Elizabeth, however, was not keen on taking the assign- exception is her collaboration with the Olmsted Brothers
ment. The loss of her father was hard on her, but she found
meaning and healing in continuing her father’s legacy as a continued next page
landscape architect:
I was obliged to decline the honor foreseeing the political
strife which has ensued. The tribute of Mr. Olmsted’s
confidence was high acceptable to me, as my Father had
been years his friend and ardent admirer.
Since his death last Autumn, I have been trying to
complete some portions of his uncompleted work, on the
private places of his friends, and thus have been much

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The Mysterious Miss Bullard cont’d National Park Service, Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site

firm on the grounds for Smith College. Above:
Bullard arrived in Northampton in 1893 to oversee Olmsted’s
the first year’s planting of over 1,200 trees and shrubs. In Plan of
March 1894, she wrote to John Charles Olmsted express- Smith
ing her concern that the College planned to entrust the College,
task to its own gardener to save on costs for the second 1893.
season. In this regard, she was proved correct. College
records indicate that little planting was accomplished in
1894, and that “a large number of plants died during the
heat and dryness of that summer for lack largely of prop-
er care.”
Elizabeth continued to correspond with the Olmsted
firm and other members of ASLA, but retired from active
practice. Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. wrote of Elizabeth in
her later years the she “was a capable but very modest and
self-deprecating practitioner.” In her final years, Elizabeth
recognized that her status as a female landscape architect
might one day become less of an oddity and more accept-
ed by society:

I am convinced that this field is open to the women The first greenhouse at Smith College is constructed and herbaceous beds
of the future, as well as that of the interior decora- laid out in 1893. (Courtesy Botanic Garden of Smith College)
tion of homes where women live, and in which, out-
doors and in, they should be mostly deeply interested.

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Death and Legacy grand ntrance

Elizabeth was ill for most of the final year of her life. Gates, Fencing,
She remained homebound, attended by her sister Lucy. Railings, Stonework,
She passed away overnight on August 14, 1916 at home, Automatic Entry Systems,
in sight of her landscapes at Barnum’s Marina mansion and Wood & Wrought Iron
Seaside Park. She was laid to rest two days later in Moun- Gates, Handcrafted Stone
tain Grove Cemetery alongside her parents. In her obitu-
aries, she was remembered as “the well-known landscape Walls, Pillars
artist” with “many friends in the city who will grieve her.” and Stairs & Patios
The Bridgeport Evening Post observed that “many of the
gardens in this city are the result of her efforts, she having 800-486-7553
been a landscape architect of no mean ability.”
Unfortunately, the majority of her works were complet- See our gallery of pictures at
ed prior to the founding of ASLA. No plans, design docu- grandentrance.com
mentation, or built examples are known to exist. As such,
her contributions were overlooked in the contemporary LN# WC17260-HO5 CT HIC.0560846
histories of the Society in favor of Beatrix Farrand, Marian
Coffin, and other early pioneering female practitioners with
extensive project histories. Nonetheless, as the first woman
to practice as a landscape architect, Elizabeth helped dispel
the prejudice and public sentiment against women pursuing
professional careers.
— Oliver Gaffney is a landscape architect with TPA Design
Group, Inc., of New Haven, and president of CTASLA.

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