Planning Firsts

Question 1

1st navigable waters from the Atlantic to the Great Lakes

Answer 1

Erie Canal, NY (1825)

Question 2

One of the 1st planned communities built in the US. Frederick Law Olmstead, Sr. & Calvert Vaux.

Answer 2

Riverside, IL (1869)

Question 3

Union Pacific railroad tracks and Central Pacific railroad tracks met here to create the transcontinental railroad

Answer 3

Promontory Point, Utah (1869)

Question 4

1st National Park

Answer 4

Yellowstone (1872)

Question 5

1st skyscraper

Answer 5

Chicago (1884)

Question 6

1st city subway

Answer 6

Boston (1897)

Question 7

1st National Wildlife Refuge

Answer 7

Pelican Island, NY (1903)

Question 8

1st planning commission

Answer 8

Hartford, CT (1907)

Question 9

1st garden suburb in NY. Frederick Law Olmstead, Jr. Inspired Clarence Perry’s neighborhood unit concept.

Answer 9

Forest Hills Gardens, Queens (1911)

Question 10

1st state to mandate subdivision plat referral

Answer 10

New Jersey (1913)

Question 11

1st US transcontinental highway

Answer 11

Lincoln Highway (1913)

Question 12

1st plan of an American new town designed to be an automobile-accessed suburb for industrial workers. Foreshadowed the New Urbanist movement.

Answer 12

Mariemont, OH (1922)

Question 13

a model affordable housing community, modeled after the Garden City movement. Planned neighborhood design by Stein & Henry Wright.

Answer 13

Sunnyside Gardens, Queens (1924)

Question 14

1st historic preservation commission

Answer 14

Vieux Carre, New Orleans (1921/1925)

Question 15

1st regional planning commission

Answer 15

LA County (1922)

Question 16

1st city zoning ordinance; Edward Bassett

Answer 16

New York City (1916)

Question 17

1st off-street parking regulations

Answer 17

Columbus, OH (1923)

Question 18

1st city comprehensive plan; Alfred Bettman & Ladislas Segoe

Answer 18

Cincinnati, OH (1925)

Question 19

1st limited access highway

Answer 19

Bronx River Parkway, NY (1926)

Question 20

designed by Clarence Stein and Henry Wright as the ‘city for the motor age.’ Forerunner for greenbelt towns. Established the super-block with center-block paths as a model for residential site planning.

Answer 20

Radburn, NJ (1928)

Question 21

1st historic preservation district ordinance

Answer 21

Charleston, SC (1931)

Question 22

Frank Wright’s urban/suburban concept in his book The Disappearing City. An effort to decentralize the city. Never actually physically developed.

Answer 22

Broadacre City (1932)

Question 23

the largest concrete structure

Answer 23

Grand Coulee Dam, WA (1941)

Question 24

a post-WWII planned suburb near Chicago. Designed by Elbert Peets. Olmstead and Vaux. A 1,600-acre self-governing community with enough space for recreation and scenic areas.

Answer 24

Park Forest, IL (1946)

Question 25

1st regional mall

Answer 25

Southdale Center, Edina, Minnesota (1956)

Question 26

1st downtown (outdoor) mall

Answer 26

Kalamazoo, Michigan (1956)

Question 27

1st statewide zoning

Answer 27

Hawaii (1961)

Question 28

a New Town build by James Rouse, featuring some class integration and the neighborhood unit principle

Answer 28

Columbia, MD (1963)

Question 29

1st town built completely to New Urbanist principles

Answer 29

Seaside, FL (1981)

Question 30

1st COG

Answer 30

Detroit, Michigan (1954)

Question 31

1st sole source aquifer

Answer 31

Cape Cod

Question 32

heavy-rail public transit and subway system serving the San Francisco Bay Area

Answer 32

Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) (1972)

Question 33

1st example of US regional transportation planning. Operates rail, air, and seaports

Answer 33

Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (1921)

Question 34

1st state-level land use plan in US. Primarily written by Henry Wright.

Answer 34

New York

Question 35

1st state to make planning mandatory for local government

Answer 35

Massachusetts

Question 36

created the 1st planned unit development (PUD)

Answer 36

Prince George County, MD

Question 37

1st state to pass enabling act legislation in 1909, granting municipalities

Answer 37

Wisconsin

Question 38

1st city to enact an urban growth boundary

Answer 38

Lexington, KY (1958)

Question 39

1st comprehensive city survey

Answer 39

Pittsburgh, PA (1907)

Question 40

hired the 1st full-time employee for a city planning commission

Answer 40

Newark, NJ (1914)

Question 41

1st local civic center plan in US; Daniel Burnham, John Carrere, and Arnold Brunner

Answer 41

Cleveland, OH (1903)

Question 42

1st federally supported public housing constructed

Answer 42

Cleveland, OH (1934)

Question 43

1st land use zoning restrictions on the location of noxious uses

Answer 43

San Francisco, CA (1867)

Question 44

1st major American city to apply City Beautiful principles

Answer 44

San Francisco, CA (1906)

Question 45

1st city to use land use zoning to guide development

Answer 45

LA, CA (1909)

Question 46

1st metro regional plan in the US

Answer 46

Chicago, IL (1909)