{"nrhp_refnum":"82005027","name":"King, Martin Luther, Jr., Park","other_names":[],"category":"structure","location":{"address":"Roughly bounded by Northampton St., E. Parade Ave., Best St. and Kensington Expressway","address_restricted":false,"city":"Buffalo","county":"Erie County","state":"NY","lat":42.905173651500036,"lon":-78.84004547989767,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1982-03-30","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Landscape Architecture"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 56-acre urban park in the eastern section of Buffalo, Erie County, New York, originally laid out as The Parade by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, later renamed Humboldt Park and then Martin Luther King, Jr. Park.","why_significant":"The park preserves design features from three phases of its use: Olmsted and Vaux's original recreation ground, the 1896 revision by Olmsted, Olmsted and Eliot, and its later life as Martin Luther King, Jr. Park. It reflects both continuity and change in park design and use under Olmsted and his successor firms.","narrative":"Martin Luther King, Jr. Park covers 56 acres in eastern Buffalo. Olmsted and Vaux conceived it as The Parade, a neighborhood recreation ground with a field for military displays and a separate area for children's games, sited close to the city's densely populated districts. In 1895 the successor firm Olmsted, Olmsted and Eliot was asked to revise the design. Its 1896 plan replaced the playground with a picnic grove and introduced water features, including a wading basin over 500 feet across, and Fillmore Avenue was cut through the grounds. The park was renamed Humboldt Park then. Later additions include a brick shelter house (1904), greenhouses (1907), the Art Deco Buffalo Museum of Science (1926-27), a rose garden and a casino. The name changed to Martin Luther King, Jr. Park in 1976 at the community's request. The park retains features from each period, showing how Olmsted's ideas were adapted over time.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux (original design); Olmsted, Olmsted and Eliot / John Charles Olmsted (1896 revision); Robert A. Wallace (shelter house); Esenwein and Johnson (Museum of Science)","architectural_style":"Art Deco noted for the Buffalo Museum of Science; park designed in Olmsted landscape tradition","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Park remains in use with a museum, rose garden, greenhouses, casino, ice rink, courts and picnic grove; the 1896 water features and nineteenth-century iron fence along the north and east borders survive.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:41.798643-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/82005027.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82005027/1540144925-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82005027/1540144925-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Pubdog (talk)","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Buffalo_Museum_of_Science_Dec_09.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Pubdog (talk)</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Buffalo_Museum_of_Science_Dec_09.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75312823","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King_Jr._Park","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6776059"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/erie-county/king-martin-luther-jr-park-82005027/"}