After he graduated first in his class in 1884, he worked as a grocery clerk and secretary to the Girard Estate Trust Fund before enrolling in the Wharton School of Finance and Economics at the University of Pennsylvania in 1891.

[3] In 1903 Nolen sold his house and used the money to enroll in the newly established Harvard School of Landscape Architecture, under the famed instructors Frederick Law Olmsted Jr., Arthur Shurtleff, and B.M.

A greenbelt of preserves and parks encircled the lower third (45 square miles) of the Pinellas Peninsula, setting the city's "natural boundaries" and creating a lure for tourists.

A system of parkways united the city, providing pedestrian access to parks and local neighborhood centers with store groups, churches, and public buildings.

In the midst of the great Florida land boom, the desire to make quick profits outweighed any lofty notion of city building.

BLE officials envisioned a regional center for agriculture and light industry, "a place where the ordinary man could have a chance to get all that the rich have ever been able to get out of Florida."

A greenbelt bounded the town to the east and south, while Venice Bay marked the northern edge and the Gulf of Mexico lay to the west.

The Civic Center's grouping of parks and public buildings offered a view of the Gulf and marked the western edge of the commercial core.

Common greens and playgrounds were provided in each neighborhood, while a wedge-shaped golf course buffered the eastern section of town from the railway and industrial uses.

In cities separated by race, interconnected parkways offered the hope of uniting diverse people through "nature" and to, Nolen wrote, "the brotherhood of man."

Nolen's plan remained a guiding vision (although Harlem Village was nixed), and Venice stands as the most complete example of the Garden City in Florida.

Combining the lines of Nature with a civic orientation, Venice offered, Nolen wrote, "an inspiration to those who would make this world a better place to live."

At the 1926 National City Planning Conference, held in St. Petersburg, Nolen presented Venice in his presidential address, "New Communities to Meet New Conditions."

A year later, Lewis Mumford, in the keynote address to the same conference, proclaimed, "At least one planner realizes where the path of intelligent and humane achievement will lead during the next generation."

He felt strongly that: ... simple recreation in the open air amid beautiful surroundings contributes to physical and moral health, to a saner and happier life ... His plan for the city of Madison is considered a preeminent example of the urban landscape movement.

Having seen the rapid deforestation of northern Wisconsin, the depletion of mineral resources in the southwest, and increasing urban development, Nolen was hired not only to find locations for parks but also to provide a reason for their existence.