Pioneer Information
Born in Boston, Pond received a B.S. from Dartmouth College in 1906 and an M.L.A. from Harvard in 1911. He apprenticed with Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. at Olmsted Brothers for three years before forming his own design practice focusing on residential, campus, park and recreational projects, primarily in New England. In the late 1910s he formed a business partnership with Henry Atherton Frost.
Pond’s greatest legacy is his work as a teacher and administrator. He was appointed to Harvard’s School of Landscape Architecture in 1914 and retired in 1950. During his tenure, the School of Landscape Architecture merged with the Schools of Architecture and City Planning to become the Harvard Graduate School of Design. Initially appointed as Chairman of the Council of the School of Landscape Architecture and then later as Chairman of the Department of Landscape Architecture, Pond was instrumental in assisting Frost in 1915 with the creation of The Cambridge School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, a formal institute that instructed female students in the profession. He also served as Director of the Lowthorpe School of Landscape Architecture for Women, another institution dedicated to women’s education in landscape architecture. On top of his teaching duties, Pond wrote for journals, edited books, and served as the American Society of Landscape Architects Secretary from 1922 to 1936. Passionate about his New England roots, he served as Secretary of the Cambridge Historical Society, was a Director of the Massachusetts Forest and Park Association, and an organizer of the Hubbard Educational Trust.
