Charles Mulford Robinson

For other people named Charles Robinson, see Charles Robinson (disambiguation).

Charles Mulford Robinson (1869–1917) was a journalist and a writer who became famous as a pioneering urban planning theorist. He has the greatest influence as a missionary for urban beautification.^[1] He was the first Professor for Civic Design at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, which was only one of two universities offering courses in urban planning at the time, the other being Harvard.

Robinson wrote "The Fair as a Spectacle" in 1893, an illustrated description of Chicago's World Columbian Exposition, a watershed event for the City Beautiful Movement, and went on to write the first guide to city planning in 1901, titled The Improvement of Towns and Cities.

In 1909, he developed the original plans for the Fort Wayne Park and Boulevard System in Fort Wayne, Indiana.^[2]: 5–6 He was hired in 1910 to review the city design and planning of St. Joseph, Missouri. Fully half of his report dealt with the need for park space in the city, leading to the design of the National Register of Historic Places–listed St. Joseph Park and Parkway System.^[3]

Works

• "The Fair as a Spectacle". A History of the World's Columbian Exposition. 1893. Chapter 26.
• "Improvement in City Live". Atlantic Monthly. 83. 1899.^[4]
  • 1: Philanthropic Progress
  • 2: Educational Progress
  • 3: Aesthetic Progress
• Rochester Ways. Scrantom Wetmore & Company, Rochester, New York, 1900.
• The Improvement of Towns and Cities. Or the Practical Basic of Civic Aesthetics. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1901.
• Modern Civic Art, or the City Made Beautiful. G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1903.
• The Call of the City. Paul Elder & Company, San Francisco/New York, 1908.
• City Planning. G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1916.

References

1. Caves, R. W. (2004). Encyclopedia of the City. Routledge. p. 573. ISBN 9780415252256.
2. "Indiana State Historic Architectural and Archaeological Research Database (SHAARD)" (Searchable database). Department of Natural Resources, Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology. Retrieved 2015-07-01. Note: This includes Camille B. Fife; Meg Storrow; Paul Lippens (May 2010). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form: Fort Wayne Park and Boulevard System Historic District Part 1" (PDF). Retrieved 2015-07-01. and Camille B. Fife; Meg Storrow; Paul Lippens (May 2010). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form: Fort Wayne Park and Boulevard System Historic District Part 2" (PDF). Retrieved 2015-07-01. and Accompanying photographs.
3. Deon K. Wolfenbarger (June 20, 1988). "National Register of Historic Places Multiple Property Documentation Form" (PDF). pp. 92–102.
4. Arthur Meier Schlesinger (1933), "Critical Essay on Authorities: Urban Life", Rise of the City, 1878-1898, NY: Macmillan, p. 448+ (fulltext via OpenLibrary)

• San Diego's City Park 1902-1910 From Parsons To Balboa
• PARKS AS ART INFLUENCES: An Interesting Book on the Improvement of Towns and Cities Renaissance of the Spirit of Civic Art is Beginning to Pervade the Municipalities (Review), Samuel Parsons, Jnr.
• Jon A. Peterson. The Birth of City Planning in the United States (Review), Daphne Spain

External links

• Charles Mulford Robinson at Find a Grave
• Finding aid to the Charles Mulford Robinson papers at the University of Pennsylvania Libraries