OF LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS 



93 



CHARLES MULFORD ROBINSON 



ASSOCIATE MEMBER 

 A MINUTE ON HIS LIFE AND SERVICE 



Charles Mulford Robinson, of Roches- 

 ter, N. Y., pioneer and widely known ad- 

 visor in city planning, author, and Pro- 

 fessor of Civic Design in the University 

 of Illinois, died at Albany, N. Y., on De- 

 cember 30, ISl?, in his forty-ninth year. 



He was born at Ramapo, Rockland 

 County, N. Y., on April 30, 1869, the son 

 of Arthur and Jane Howell (Porter) 

 Robinson, who shortly after his birth 

 moved to Rochester, N. Y. There he re- 

 ceived his schooling, and, from the Uni- 

 versity of Rochester, in 1891, the degree 

 of Bachelor of Arts. 



From college, he entered journalism, 

 and, from 1891 until 1902, was an editor 

 of The Post-Express (Rochester) ; in 1904, 

 of The Philadelphia Ledger and, in 1907, 

 of The Municipal Jourrtal (New York City) ; 

 while, for some years, he was a regular 

 contributing editor of The Survey, The Ar- 

 chitectural Record and The Boston Transcript; 

 and, at his death, had long been known 

 as a prolific, and always level-headed and 

 interesting, contributor to newspapers 

 and periodicals, particularly on subjects 

 of civil interest. (For a record of the 

 more important of his publications, see 

 the accompanying bibliography.)** In 

 1899, a series of three articles which he 

 contributed to The Atlantic Monthly on 

 the subject of municipal improvement in 

 the United States attracted unusual at- 

 tention — for the great present interest in 

 the bettering of the conditions of city life 

 through more rational planning of the 



city itself was then hardly more than be- 

 ginning, and he was an earnest pioneer 

 in the field. Shortly after their appear- 

 ance, he was invited by Harper's Magazine 

 to go abroad and prepare a similar series 

 on municipal development in Europe ; 

 and, having, through this trip, accumu- 

 lated much more material than could pos- 

 sibly find place in these articles, he was 

 moved in 1901 to the writing of his first 

 book in his chosen field — the field of city 

 planning, especially planning for increase 

 of civic beauty. Despite the impressive, 

 even though abbreviated, list of organi- 

 zations which in the "Foreword" of this 

 little book he refers to as having "done 

 some definite thing to improve a com- 

 munity's appearance," city planning was 

 still so new as a subject of public interest 

 that, journalist though he was, he was 

 unable to find a publisher willing to take 

 the financial risk of publication. 



"Compelled at last to bring out the 

 book, prosaically named, 'The Improve- 

 ment of Towns and Cities,' at his own 

 expense, he had the gratification of seeing 

 it jump at once into favor and success. 

 In a few months it had to be reprinted ; 

 in less than a year it was reprinted 

 again, and now reprint follows reprint, 

 and edition follows edition. . . . Abroad, 

 The IVestminster Gazette hailed Mr. Robin- 

 son as a leader of a new school of proph- 

 ets." 



Such, according to a subsequent re- 

 view* of Robinson's career, was the en- 

 thusiastic reception of this early work. 

 But this little book was much more than 



♦Translated into Spanish for the Reuisla Municipal, Havana, March, 1908. 

 **Omitted for lack of space. 



