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Front Lawns: Mowing & Growing the American Landscape, A Brief History of an American Obsession

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Link to original Story Map

The Story Map Text:

From the suburbs of Chicago to the suburbs of New York, our obsession with lawns spans America.

But, why? Why do these spaces carry so much value? How did our obsession begin?

The following events illustrate the story of how lush front lawns— and the devices and practices used to create them— reflect the American Dream of home ownership.

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1700

America owes the physical creation of the lawn to landscape designers in England and France. The first lawns were grassy fields enveloping English and French castles — the logic being that castle grounds free of trees allowed soldiers guarding the castles a clear view of their surroundings. Further into the 1700s, European landscape designers began experimenting with concepts of closely, clean-cut grass areas within gardens. Lawns quickly become an indicator of class. Just like today, those with lawns are those who have the financial means to maintain it.

1757

Language matters. The word “lawn” was introduced to the English dictionary in 1757 as a “large clump of dirt with grass.” The creation of this word gave a name to this phenomenon.

1806

Among the first to replicate the European lawn in America was U.S. President Thomas Jefferson. In front of his Monticello estate, Jefferson had a large front lawn designed, simply for his viewing pleasure.

1830

Englishman Edwin Bear Budding invents the mechanical lawn mower in 1830. The design of the lawn mower sets the foundation for quick, efficient lawn management that we know and “love” today.

1841

The desire for lawns to look like putting greens begins in 1841 when Jackson Downing published the first ever American landscape-gardening book. Downing’s popular book told readers that if they ‘improve’ their cookie cutter front lawns, they would ‘improve’ themselves.

1868

Landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, commonly known as the ‘Father of the American Lawn’, accepted the task to design Riverside, a suburb of Chicago. In the design, Olmsted required that each house be set back 30 feet from the road to allow room for one or two trees and a lawn that would connect to the neighbors’ yard.

1871

With the invention of the lawn sprinkler in 1871, homeowners— the elite few who had running water in 1871— no longer had an excuse not to have a lawn.

1935

Missouri mechanic Leonard Goodall crafted the first power rotary mower in 1935. Caring for a lawn became easier and faster than ever.

1938

Passed in 1939, The Fair Labor Standards Act makes the dream of a 40-hour workweek a reality. With newfound weekend time, many Americans filled their Saturday’s with lawn mowing and watering. While it was not explicitly said, the condition of the front lawn reflected your status and value to your community.

1945

The end of World War II prompted the federal government to finance low-cost mortgages, encouraging builders to construct low-middle class housing. Lawns are used in these new housing developments to recreate upper class suburban residences, drawing more residences into the neighborhoods. Before this, front lawns are reserved for the upper class. Intentional efforts by the government denied housing loans to many people of color, excluding them from living in suburban communities.

1950

The development of new forms of pesticides makes a weed-free lawn possible.

1962

The first prominent anti-lawn advocates emerged after the publication of Rachel Carson’s book, Silent Spring, detailing the harmful effects of the pesticides (being used to keep lawns weed free) have on people, wildlife, and the greater environment.

1966

The Masters Golf Tournament is televised in color for the first time, allowing viewers to see the manicured, bright green grass fields displayed on their TVs at home. In a Sports Illustrated issue following the tournament, the author writes, “having seen what is possible, millions of homeowners feel compelled to go and do likewise.”

2005

Turf grasses, grass used for lawns, become the single largest irrigated crop in America. Lawn irrigation uses more water than corn, wheat, and fruit orchards combined.

2009

Americans spend a record $20 billion in 2009 on lawn care.

2016

In the small town of Cahokia, Illinois, authorities arrested a woman for failing to mow her lawn in accordance with strict municipal lawn-care rules. Both before and after this arrest, there have been other mowing-related legal cases, emphasizing the importance of lawns in American culture.

2020

Compared to state park sites in the U.S. occupying 14 million acres of land, lawns now cover 50 million acres of land in the U.S. That’s a lot of grass.

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The legacy of the American front lawn is one we are all familiar with.

Front lawns tell us that with hard work, determination, and sacrifice, anyone can achieve a life of prosperity. Front lawns tell us that we, too can have that perfect, pristine patch of grass.

Front lawns may look perfect, but they obscure a long history of exclusion and environmental damage.

In Pursuit of the Perfect Lawn

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Mow, water, spray, repeat. 

Americans spend up to six hours per week maintaining their lawn: trimming grass, obsessively spraying God-knows-what to keep the grass a bright green, turning on sprinklers at the crack of dawn— But why? What is it about these small patches of grass that fascinates Americans? 

An eco-anthropological dissertation completed at Salve Regina University analyzes this very question, incorporating historical, critical, and socio-cultural perspectives. The study, which focused on one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in Rhode Island, found that American front lawns are sites of both “socially vapid” and “ecological hazardousness” occurrencess. 

To make sense of this, let me introduce you to two houses you would probably recognize. The first house (House A) has a front lawn with long, lumpy, untended brown-ish grass. The other house’s lawn (House B) is the opposite: it is a perfectly manicured, eternally green,weed-free carpet.

Let’s begin with the dissertation’s first  argument: lawns as sites of socially vapid events. That is to say that lawns are spaces where boring, unproductive, and unimportant social interactions happen.

The analysis collected data from 23 front lawns within the town of Barrington, Rhode Island. Among other questions, the study asked participants the following: Do you believe the appearance of your front lawn is a reflection of you? 68% of participants believed it was.

In American suburbs, lawns exist as extensions of the owner, measures of their character, and furthermore, extensions of American values.

The 30 billion dollar lawn industry in the U.S. thrives on the role lawns play in forming   reputations with one’s neighbors, independent of any human interaction— this illustrates lawns as sites of “socially vapid” occurrences. 

This makes sense to me.  Families on my street always treated the residents in House B noticeably better than House A. House B treated their lawn as a prized possession and in turn, they too were treated as such. House A, on the other hand, was often the gossip on the street. People would say, “I can’t believe they let their lawn look like that” or “It’s not that hard to mow your lawn” or “Their lawn makes us all look bad.” 

The goal of the dissertation is to investigate potential for a culturally viable and ecologically beneficial front lawn. Written through an exploration of people’s perception of and relationship with front lawns, the dissertation introduces larger themes important to the American lawn: individualism, control, nationalism, wealth, value, and controlled versions of nature. Understanding these themes are critical in reimagining what our front lawns can look like and how we can interact with them. 

From this perspective, we can see what House A and House B’s lawns share. Neither lawns are sites of play, recreation, community gathering, or lounging. They are, as the study describes, “socially vapid.” This goes hand in hand with the second argument: lawns as sites of ecologically hazardous events.

Unsurprisingly, 80% of the study’s participants reported using a gas lawn mower, a machine already ecologically harmful in its own right. Of the 80%, 62% of participants reported using riding gas lawn mowers, the most polluting of lawn mowers. 

Given the fact that our current system of lawn management and lawn use is ecologically hazardous and socially vapid, reimagining our connection to and affinity for the suburban front lawns is necessary to enact sustainable, effective change. 

So, it turns out that House A is in fact less ecologically hazardous than House B. While House A leaves their lawn alone, House B’s lawn is mowed using a riding gas lawn mower.

This study shows us that the solutions to fixing our lawns can’t be found in a “top five” list. Instead, the study emphasizes that fixing our lawns is really about reimagining much deeper structures rooted in the very fabric of American culture.