Charlesbank opens.

Designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, with equipment designed by Dudley Sargent, it is located along the Charles River east of the West Boston Bridge. Added to the Boston park system in 1883, it is the first public playground in Boston and first open air gymnasium in the U.S. According to Olmsted, its purpose is for “The enjoyment and health of the crowded working-class nearby.” Initially for men only, an adjacent women’s gymnasium, screened by shrubbery to provide “the seclusion desirable for the sex that uses them” opens in 1891. A children’s playground and a waterfront promenade complete the park by 1892. It is redesigned by Guy Lowell in 1908 and by Arthur Shurcliff in 1949, then reduced dramatically in size by construction of Storrow Drive in 1951, and is now called Lederman Park.