Seeking Information About Thomas Brown McClunie (1826-1903)

The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF) is seeking information about Thomas Brown McClunie (1826–1903) to expand the biographical profile featured in the Pioneers of American Landscape Design database. 

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Born at Thorn Hill in Scotland, McClunie served briefly as an engineer in an early study of the Panama Canal. In 1850 he moved to New York City and seven years later relocated to Hartford, Connecticut, where he prepared an unrealized plan for Bushnell Park. During the Civil War he served in the Seventh Rhode Island Infantry. Returning to Hartford in 1870, McClunie laid out Charles Pond’s estate (now Elizabeth Park). Six years later he designed the grounds for the Connecticut Hospital for the Insane (now Connecticut Valley Hospital) in Middletown and exhibited at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. In 1881 he designed a portion of the city’s Spring Grove Cemetery and graded the State Capitol grounds. As late as 1889 he advertised his services in preparing “plans and specifications for parks, cemeteries and private residences.”

Please contact:  Barbara S. Christen, Ph.D., TCLF Director of Editorial Content 

T: 202-483-0553 

E: barbara@tclf.org