American Civic Association
Encyclopedia
The American Civic Association (ACA) was a United States organization for making better living conditions in America, with an emphasis on improving the physical and structural growth of communities. Its purpose was briefly stated as "the cultivation of higher ideals of civic life and beauty in America, the promotion of city, town and neighborhood improvement, the preservation and development of landscape and the advancemenrt of outdoor art."
The ACA was a municipal reform organization, and one of the few such organizations, national in its scope, that had no set parameters for its goals, but instead operated for the general betterment of municipal administration.
The general offices of the American Civic Association were established in Washington D.C. in January, 1910. Its principal founding officers were J. Horace McFarland
of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, President; Clinton Rogers Woodruff of Philadelphia, vice-president; William B. Howland of New York, treasurer; and Richard B. Watrous of Washington, secretary. Under McFarland's hand, and with the influence of powerful industrialist and conservationist Stephen Mather who was an ACA member, the organization was one of the big supporters of the United States' national park policy. The ACA was an early supporter of the push to have the national park system organized and administered under a single dedicated government body.
In 1935 the American Civic Association and the National Conference on City Planning merged to become the American Planning and Civic Association.
The ACA was a municipal reform organization, and one of the few such organizations, national in its scope, that had no set parameters for its goals, but instead operated for the general betterment of municipal administration.
The general offices of the American Civic Association were established in Washington D.C. in January, 1910. Its principal founding officers were J. Horace McFarland
J. Horace McFarland
J. Horace McFarland from McAlisterville, Pennsylvania was a leading proponent of the "City Beautiful Movement" in the United States....
of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, President; Clinton Rogers Woodruff of Philadelphia, vice-president; William B. Howland of New York, treasurer; and Richard B. Watrous of Washington, secretary. Under McFarland's hand, and with the influence of powerful industrialist and conservationist Stephen Mather who was an ACA member, the organization was one of the big supporters of the United States' national park policy. The ACA was an early supporter of the push to have the national park system organized and administered under a single dedicated government body.
In 1935 the American Civic Association and the National Conference on City Planning merged to become the American Planning and Civic Association.