Overview

WINNER, Certificate of Excellence in ""Scholarly Publications"" from the Illinois State Historical Society's 2025 Best of Illinois History Awards! Honorable Mention, 2025 Society of Midland Authors Award in History! The challenge to preserve Chicagoland's unique haven Just outside the bustling metropolis of Chicago lies the unlikely green oasis of Riverside, Illinois, a small village that has continued to directly influence American landscapes and suburbs since the 1870s. Once farmland, the location provided a blank canvas for preeminent designers Fredrick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux's manifestation of a truly democratic society. Olmsted's Riverside details the village's historical significance, harmony with nature, and its nearly 150-year impact on American suburbs today. Cathy Jean Maloney explores how Riverside's layout and design presaged today's urban planning goals of walkability, green space, public transportation access, sustainability, and resiliency. Houses in Riverside are set back from the road, sidewalks meander along gently curving roads, and public green spaces abound. Maloney shows how Riverside's leaders and residents struggled with stewardship of Olmsted's ideals by balancing competing interests in suburban development and Chicago sprawl from the 1870s to the 2020s. She details in chronological chapters how the village adapted to tragedies such as the Great Fire of 1871 and the Panic of 1873, as well as advancements in transportation, local civic life, urban policy, and environmental thought, all while staying true to the framework inherited from Olmsted and Vaux. Olmsted's Riverside provides engaging examples of how citizen involvement can protect a community's ideals. This richly illustrated volume combines landscape architecture, regional history, and urban design to show how audacious civic planning and thoughtful conservation can provide a model for future American suburbs.

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9780809339525

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Reviews

"""This is a book that needed to be written. Cathy Jean Maloney not only provides a complete, expert, and detailed history of the design and development of one of the country's first suburbs, but also provides ample evidence that Riverside was and is an exemplar of the American suburban ideal.""--Malcolm Cairns, author of The Landscape Architecture Heritage of Illinois ""Maloney's book offers a lively look at the past and future of Riverside, the model--and magical--suburb created by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux in 1869. Using Riverside as an example, she acknowledges that historic preservation is not a static endeavor and explores the ways communities can safeguard and invigorate their historic designed treasures while adapting to modern challenges.""--Anne Neal Petri, president CEO, Olmsted Network ""Maloney helps us understand how a historically significant suburb designed by Frederick Law Olmsted learned to adapt to changing environmental, social, and cultural conditions while preserving historical integrity. The book will be of interest to urban historians, planners, and residents of places who seek to preserve what is good.""--Curt Winkle, associate professor emeritus of urban planning and policy, University of Illinois at Chicago ""Olmsted's Riverside is a case study in how one municipality has faced the struggles and strains of societal changes and worked to retain its initial nature--specifically its world-famous design by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux. In addition, the book serves as an in-depth look at the ecology of a place where, for a century and a half, people have sought to have more of an interconnection with the natural world than most villages and cities provide. Maloney marshals her information well, seasons her pages with occasional pithy anecdotes and snappy quotes and keeps the pace moving. Her writing is energetic and far from stuffy. And the reader benefits greatly from Maloney's obvious affection for the village and its design and her ability to describe how the village looks and feels, and how residents interact viscerally with the curving streets, vistas and other aspect of the design.""--Patrick T. Reardon, author of The Loop: The ""L"" Tracks That Shaped and Saved Chicago (SIU Press, 2020)"

Author Information

Cathy Jean Maloney is a landscape historian and author of five books on garden and environmental history, including World's Fair Gardens: Shaping American Landscapes. For more than twenty years, Maloney served as senior editor of Chicagoland Gardening magazine. She also chaired the Landscape Advisory Commission in historic Riverside, Illinois, and spearheaded its certification as an arboretum. Maloney has appeared on numerous radio and TV shows, and teaches at the Morton Arboretum and the Chicago Botanic Garden while writing for national and regional publications.

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