On this day....

..... in 1847, the world's first municipal park, designed by Sir Joseph Paxton, opened in Birkenhead, Merseyside. Birkenhead Park was visited by Frederick Olmsted who incorporated many of the design features into his design for Central Park, New York.

I'm currently reading Kate Colquhoun's biography of Paxton, who was a contemporary of David Douglas (see earlier entries) at the Horticultural Society's gardens in Chiswick in 1823. Paxton's life is an interesting illustration of the direction Douglas's life might have taken had he lived.