Original 1904 Planting Plan
for the Western State Normal School
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The Kalamazoo community offered twenty-four possible
sites for the new Western State Normal School. The
Michigan State Board of Education narrowed the list down to four sites, and
then hired the nationally-known landscape firm, Olmsted Brothers of Brookline,
Massachusetts, to recommend the final selection. Upon the firm's written
recommendation the Board selected Prospect Hill on November 27, 1903.
The architect selected for the project, E. W. Arnold, designed the first
building for the Western State Normal School - the Administration Building
- and drafted a plan for a quadrangle
of potential future buildings. The Olmsted
Brothers used the Arnold quadrangle plan as the basis for a landscape, or
planting, plan for the entire 20-acre site.
Part of the plan is reproduced here. Pass pointer over plan to
view comments.
Click
to view enlargment
Comparison
of 1904 Plan with 1925 Campus Map
The Planting Plan includes a comprehensive list of plants sorted into
twenty-seven categories or groups, with each category's location
clearly labelled. It included terraced
lawns and several elaborate sets of stairs leading down to Davis Street and
to Oakland Drive.
The original Olmsted Brothers Planting Plan was printed on linen cloth,
and measured approximately 85 inches wide and 30 inches high. The
delicate 100 year-old document was reproduced by photocopying it in sections
and then piecing the sections together.