Often, when we take on leadership positions, we find ourselves critiqued by others. Sometimes it seems like those who put themselves "out there" can never win! This talk offers an example of rewriting history in an honest, open way that happens to yield a more positive account. It has a lot to tell us about the community work we all undertake and may offer us solace. In the end, the good guys may get their due! The City Beautiful movement, an offshoot of the progressive movement, is a pivotal example of concerted urban boosterism in the nineteenth century. It has not been well regarded by scholars. Urban historians routinely approach the middle- and upper-class-driven movement uneasily and characterize the leaders as wealthy people who just wanted to make their cities more aesthetically pleasing. This presentation proposes a partial reframing of the City Beautiful movement as a project directly influenced by emerging environmental thought. In Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and beyond, the team of Warren Manning, Mira Lloyd Dock, and Horace McFarland studied science but absorbed the emerging tenets of the social sciences. The three drew on their considerable scientific knowledge and passion for the natural world to foster collaboration and enact sustained, positive changes in U.S. cities, thereby improving the daily lives of urban dwellers.