Olmsted, Frederick Law. Back Bay Fens Plan.

In 1877 the Boston park department adopted a plan for filling the Back Bay Fens and creating a Back Bay Park.  Filling started in 1878.  In that same year the park department hired Frederick Law Olmsted to work on the park design.  He delivered his plan at the end of 1879.  The overall configuration of the park was the same as in the park department’s 1877 plan.  However, he replaced the steep sided reservoir in the previous plan with a salt marsh and a dam at the outlet into the Charles River.  Work on the Olmsted plan began in 1880, and was completed in 1894.