Lenné’s closest associate, who worked as the royal court gardener at Sanssouci Palace in Potsdam, Gustav Meyer (1816-1877), was commissioned to draft a plan for the Friedrichshain. The Park was built between 1846 and 1848 as the first municipal green space of 34 ha, under the superintendence of the Berlin Forest and Economics Deputation. Immediately after its completion, the dead of the March Revolution of 1848 were interred here.
In 1864, the Berlin City Council commissioned Gustav Meyer to design an additional urban park outside the Schesisches Tor (Silesian Gate), which was to become the Treptower Park. On December 15, 1864, the design was submitted and was favorably received. However, the Treptower Park was not built until 1876-1888.
In 1865, the City Council authorized the purchase of the property which would later be used for the Humboldthain, built 1869-1870.
As an effect of rapid industrialization, the population of Berlin had risen to 428,000 inhabitants in 1850, to 500,000 inhabitants in 1860, and to 800,000 inhabitants in 1870 – on the same area. This led to extremely crowded and socially untenable residential conditions.