Proposed by: Glenview Garden Club, Zone VII

In the 1890s, Frederick Law Olmsted designed three public parks connected by parkways for Louisville, Kentucky, bringing nature into neighborhoods. In 2004, Olmsted’s legacy was carried forward when The Parklands of Floyds Fork became the vision of the 21st Century Parks, newly formed by the Dan Jones family as a means to protect rural environments from urban sprawl. Created over eight years from 2011-2019, The Parklands of Floyds Fork is four parks connected by broad parkways, twenty miles long with 4,000 acres of forests, meadows, and wetlands along the southern and eastern edge of Louisville. The Parklands was designed as a sustainable park with native plants, including 80,000 newly-planted trees, and maintained through an endowment. The Parklands of Floyds Fork is a model for urban parks in the 21st century—a public-private partnership with broad community support, creating a better quality of life by putting people and nature first.