Andrew Jackson Downing 
The First American Landscape Architect 
By RICHARD SCHERMERHORN, Jr. 
Photographs by W. S. Vail 
I N this very young country of ours, the space of 
even a generation or two gives an impression 
of ages, while a glimpse of a period as far back 
as a hundred years, which we are occasionally offered 
through the medium of history and tradition, is apt 
to be awe-inspiring in the visions it gives us of times 
which in their rugged character and elementary 
conditions, seem almost 
to have belonged to some 
other world. The great 
rapidity of this country’s 
growth and its enormous 
wealth, still increasing, 
provides for little else 
than the uprooting of old 
things and the establish¬ 
ment of new. But in 
spite of the exhilaration 
of such rapid and be¬ 
wildering progress, we 
are occasionally led, in 
moments of retrospec¬ 
tion, to view with some 
regret the passing of the 
scenes with which our 
grandfathers were so 
familiar, and to realize 
with considerable sur¬ 
prise how fast our early 
traditions are being for¬ 
gotten and how surely, 
though gradually, the 
memory of so many of 
our great men of former 
days is being lost to 
public mind. Thus we 
look with increasing interest when we learn from an 
occasional w riter’s pen, how certain events, altogether 
unknown to us, were of great note in their day, and 
how certain personages, w-hose names are very unfa¬ 
miliar, did big things in times gone by. 
It is not likely that the name of Andrew Jackson 
Downing, the first American born landscape archi¬ 
tect, will be forgotten (at least by those who 
follow his craft); his work w r as too significant and 
his influence too widely extended; but in these 
days there is much to think of, and though honor 
is generally given where honor is due, we occa¬ 
sionally need prompting in subjects 'which, though 
worthy, are not close at hand. Particularly in this 
period when the development of home life in the 
country is such an important and ever-growing topic 
of interest, should the debt be known and realized, 
of what is owed to A. J. Dow ning; one whose sin- 
cerest thoughts and greatest efforts were given to¬ 
ward the first education of the American people to a 
fuller appreciation of the 
elementary gifts of na¬ 
ture, and how they might 
be cultivated to the best 
use and enjoyment of 
all. 
Downing’s name does 
not occur frequently in 
garden literature of the 
present day, but those 
who w ould take sufficient 
interest to trace the origin 
of the landscape art in 
this country, would be 
surprised to learn of the 
prominence given him in 
that period of the 40’s 
and early 50’s when his 
greatest influence was 
felt. The literature of 
that date shows him not 
only well honored, but 
pre-eminent in his line, 
and at the time of his 
death, besides the very 
genuine regret expressed 
by many who were close 
to him, not only the 
horticultural and allied 
societies of this country, but many even in England 
paid tribute in sincere eulogies of the man and his 
distinguished career. 
Downing was born in Newburgh in 1815. His 
father was a nurseryman and, brought up in such 
an environment, Downing’s natural taste for horti¬ 
culture and science found ample opportunity for 
development. He attended school at Montgomery 
until 1831 when he joined his brother in the nursery 
business, his father having died in 1822. He was 
married in 1838 and in the same year purchased his 
brother’s interest in the nursery. In 1839 he built 
his residence (which is still standing) to the design 
ANDREW JACKSON DOWNING 
43 
