Jacob Weidenmann (1829-1893)

Born in Switzerland in 1829, Jacob Weidenmann trained in Europe as an architect and engineer before emigrating to the United States in 1856. He came to Hartford around 1860 where he designed the city's new Bushnell Park and remained as its superintendent. In 1863, Weidenmann was engaged as landscape architect for the new Cedar Hill Cemetery. Weidenmann published his first book, "Beautifying Country Homes," in 1870 and then moved to New York where he often collaborated with Frederick Law Olmsted. It was Weidenmann's work at Cedar Hill and his study of existing rural cemeteries that led to the eventual publication, in 1888, of "Modern Cemeteries," which codified the principles of landscaping burial grounds. The man who once remarked, "my destiny is to work for the grave diggers," died on February 6, 1893 and was buried in a quiet corner at Cedar Hill Cemetery, one of his most important projects. Weidenmann urged the establishment of a professional school to raise landscape architecture "to proper standing in science and art." Today, Harvard University awards the Jacob Weidenmann prize to the student who has shown outstanding ability in landscape design, a fitting recognition of Weidenmann's accomplishments and his commitment to his chosen profession.