John Nolen
John Nolen (1869–1937) was a pioneer in the development of professional town and city planning in the United States. Nolen’s comprehensive approach merged the social, economic, and physical aspects of planning while emphasizing “versatility, special knowledge, and cooperation.” Between 1905 and 1937, Nolen’s firm, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, completed more than 350 commissions throughout the United States. Among them are the plans for Kingsport, Tennessee; Kistler, Pennsylvania; the new suburbs of Union Park Gardens in Wilmington, Delaware, and Myers Park in Charlotte, North Carolina; Venice, Florida, one of his most ambitious projects; and the best known, Mariemont, Ohio, whose development Nolen directed from the ground up.