George Kessler

• Name — George E. Kessler • Born — 16 July 1862 • Birthplace — Frankenhausen, Principality of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt • Died — 20 March 1923 • Place of death — Indianapolis, Indiana, United States • Resting Place — Bellefontaine Cemetery St. Louis, Missouri • Children — George Edward Kessler, Jr. • Parents — Edward Carl Kessler Adolphe Clotilde Zetzsche Kessler

George E. Kessler was born in Frankenhausen, Principality of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, to Edward Carl Kessler and Adolphe Clotilde Zeitsche Kessler on July 16, 1862. In 1865, the family, including George's sister, Fredericka Antionette Louisa, emigrated to the United States. After living briefly in New Jersey, Missouri, and Wisconsin, the family ultimately settled in Dallas, Texas, where George's father and uncle invested in a cotton plantation. His father died in 1878. At the age of sixteen, George became a cashboy at Sanger Brothers Dry Goods. After consultation with relatives, Clotilde decided that landscape architecture would combine the right degree of creativity and practicality to suit her son's temperament. The family moved back to Germany, where George received formal training. He undertook a two-year apprenticeship at the private landscape gardening school at the Grand Ducal Gardens in Weimar, Germany, where he studied botany, forestry, and design under Hofgärtner Armin Sckell and Garteninspector Julius Hartwig. He then worked for several months with Haage and Schmidt, a major German plant nursery in Erfurt. He received further training in Charlottenburg and Potsdam that included a brief study at Gaertner Lehr Anstalt, the school of garden design founded by Peter Joseph Lenné; technical engineering study at Gartner-Lehranstalt; study with Hofgärtner Theodore Neitner at the Neue Garten; and study at the Polytechnicum, the premier horticultural library in Germany. Upon completion of a course in civil engineering at the University of Jena, he toured central and western Europe and southern England for one year with a tutor in order to study civic design in major cities from Paris to Moscow. He recalled, "Of all of it, the travel was of most value."

In October 1881, the Kessler family returned to New York. From January to March 1882, Kessler sent four letters to Frederick Law Olmsted. The January 22 letter is the first record of his attempt to begin work in the United States. In the letter Kessler wrote of his studies and travel in Europe and wondered about an arboretum job at Boston's Arnold Arboretum. In the February 15 letter, Kessler wrote that he was "certain of a situation in Central Park" and of an offer of a partnership with a florist in Woodlawn. He wrote, "Since November, I have been in the employ of A. LeMoult 172 and 174 Bowery, having charge of his greenhouse, seed, and grass stock. Decoration of concert halls were also mostly in my care." Kessler also sent drawings. Olmsted responded in March and urged Kessler "to be ambitious to be master in higher fields" than pleasure grounds and home gardens. Also Olmsted encouraged Kessler to educate himself about nature through reading, reflection, and excursions, and to aim to free himself from German associations in order to expand his capabilities and to not limit his influence and opportunities. A recommended reading list of books was included. Olmsted concluded by writing that the Kansas City, Fort Scott, and Gulf Railway Company might be in need of a man to take charge of a public picnic or excursion ground. He told Kessler that the railroad's president, H.H. Hunniwell, would be in New York, and that Olmsted had given him Kessler's address. On March 18, Kessler provided additional information on his work in the Bowery and wrote that if he stayed with LeMoult, he would receive per week. The last letter to Olmsted on March 23 stated that Kessler was taking a position with the railroad at Merriam Park in Johnson County, Kansas, for a salary of forty dollars per month. The work was to design and supervise the construction of the railroad's pleasure park. Merriam Park was located 10 mi southwest of Kansas City, Missouri. Kessler, along with his mother and sister, moved to a house on John Mastin's Johnson County farm. Beside working on the park, Kessler was caretaker of the farm property. Although Merriam Park had been dedicated in 1880, when Kessler arrived there was only one building intended for visitors, a square dance floor, and nearly all the valuable trees had been cut down for cordwood. Less than two years after Kessler started, the park had become a great success. The park had been enclosed with a fence and the main entrance was an ornamental archway. Features included an open-air shelter for large public gatherings, wild animal exhibits, picnic grounds, a pavilion, a lake, tennis courts, croquet grounds, a horse-drawn merry-go-round, numerous swings, and a baseball diamond. Admission cost 25 cents and the park attracted more than 20,000 visitors each day. Details of the park before and after Kessler's work are described in The Life and Work of George Edward Kessler. Kessler maintained a nursery in the park filled with a large variety of trees and shrubs. He was responsible for sales from the park's icehouse and arranged excursions to the park. In addition to his work at Merriam Park, Kessler prepared landscape plans and supervised the maintenance of many of the railroad's stations in Kansas and Missouri. He managed the company's two experimental tree farms totaling 1500 acres near Farlington, Kansas.

• Illustration — The Paseo at 17th Street, Kansas City, Missouri, was completed in 1897. Kessler soon opened an office in Kansas City and went looking for more work. In 1887, he was commissioned to bring order to a hollow that formed the center of Kansas City's fashionable Hyde Park neighborhood. Kessler landscaped the hollow and then encircled it with a boulevard to prevent residents from turning it into part of their backyards. The layout spurred sales of stately homes along the boulevard. The success of the project drew the attention of Kansas City Star publisher William Rockhill Nelson, who would champion the City Beautiful Movement. On May 31, 1890, Kessler applied to become the landscape architect for the city's newly created Park Board. Following court challenges on whether the city could issue bonds to fund parks, Kansas City finally got the approvals to create a park board on March 5, 1892, thanks to the efforts of August Meyer. Kessler had earlier designed the grounds of Meyer's house in what is today's Kansas City Art Institute. Kansas City's model for park and boulevard systems would be used by numerous cities. Kessler was hired as the board's engineer. Kessler later worked with Meyer to lay out the city's street grid including a parks and boulevard system. The initial 1893 plan called for 9.85 mi of boulevards and 323.45 acre of parks. The Paseo was named after the famed Paseo de la Reforma, one of Mexico City's most fashionable boulevards. Between 1899 and 1901, he worked on the first plans for Gage Park in Topeka. On May 14, 1900, Kessler married Ida Grant Field of Kansas City, Missouri. They had one son, George Edward Kessler Jr.

George Kessler is recorded with the occupation landscape architect. Recorded with the occupation urban planner. Recorded as a citizen of German Empire.