Pioneer Information
Faul was born in Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany. When, exactly, he immigrated to the United States is unknown. He began his career as a cartographer for the Baltimore Park Commission, with plans appearing with his signature by 1852. In 1860 he began to assist Howard Daniels in a topological survey of the Lloyd Nicholas Rogers estate, which was then in the process of being transformed into Druid Hill Park. Faul’s involvement was at first limited to the technical aspects of the park’s layout, but with Daniels’ death in 1863, he was promoted to general superintendent and engineer for public parks. In 1869 Faul traveled to New York City to visit Central and Prospect Parks. Although budgetary constraints prevented him from fully implementing ideas from his travels, Faul’s pragmatism resulted in the first comprehensive plan for Druid Hill Park in 1870. Faul also collaborated with architect George Frederick on the development of the park’s original zoological gardens (now the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore) and on incorporating the Mount Royal Reservoir into the park. Faul produced the earliest map of the city’s Patterson Park (1876), and he designed Mountain Lake Park in Garrett County, Maryland, in 1881. Faul died in 1884 and is buried in Baltimore’s Loudon Park Cemetery.