Iroquois Park was one of the three major suburban parks created in the late 19th century in Louisville. In 1889, Mayor
Charles Donald Jacob purchased
Burnt Knob, a 313-acre (1.3 km2) tract of land 4 miles (6 km) south of the city, for $9,000, and was reimbursed by the city treasurer without approval from the city council or public referendum, meaning the original purchase was probably illegal. Jacob also negotiated with landowners between the city and the then-rural park to acquire the right of way for a 150-foot (46 m) wide "Grand Boulevard", today's
Southern Parkway, which still leads to the park. The move was controversial at first and called "'''Jacob's Folly
" by political opponents after early improvements were washed away by rain in the Spring of 1889. In 1890 control over the park, then called Jacob's Park''', was given to the Board of Park Commissioners. Frederick Law Olmsted was invited to tour the park, and gave an influential speech at the
Pendennis Club on May 20, 1891, and signed a contract to design the city's park system two days later. Work was soon underway on the park, by then renamed Iroquois, which Olmsted envisioned as "providing the grandeur of the forest depths in the dim seclusion of which you may wander musingly for hours". ==See also==