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The Boston Public Garden, Showcase of the City

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The Boston Public Garden, Showcase of the City The Boston Public Garden, Showcase of the City Mary M. B. Wakefield Since 1970 the Friends of the Public Garden has worked closely with Boston’s Department of Parks and Recreation to rehabilitate a uniquely beautiful parcel of urban open space Every garden needs friends-in the case of a goon. A bevy of happy ducks follows, begging garden that is always open to the public, lots for a bite of food as if nothing untoward had of friends-a cadre of knowledgeable, con- ever befallen this urban paradise. cerned people who understand its particular How can this be? How has the Garden been situation and character. For, once established, able to reach this point intact? Generations of a garden begins to develop its own unique dedicated friends-professionals, politicians, identity-its "Genius of Place," if you will- volunteers, visitors, and viewers, all of them and becomes the kind of garden visitors re- appreciative, all of them on call to help it member. Its qualities are subtle and fragile survive almost daily vicissitudes-genera- and well worth preserving. For a garden that tions of dedicated friends have guided it to must serve ever increasing numbers of visi- this point. tors, the challenge is to preserve its unique In a few words, I will recount for you the qualities for the sake of future generations. history of the Boston Public Garden. The Boston Public Garden has long since developed its true spirit, possessing Genius of The Garden’s Origins and Antecedents Place to a remarkable degree. It has endured Unlike Boston Common, which the early extraordinary vicissitudes yet is still the settlers had established on existing dry land Public Garden. That it has survived at all is a for the use of all the town’s people, the Public tribute to its early planners, its official care- Garden was created on made land that origi- takers, and those generations of citizens who nally was part of Round Marsh. All but one have been its champions since 1838. section of the site (Fox Hill) was inundated at The Garden has had hair’s-breadth escapes each tide. from complete obliteration by buildings and For untold centuries Round Marsh and the streets. Greenhouses, statues, and trees have nearby flats had been favorite places of the come and gone. It has conformed to succes- Indians. Bostonians, too, enjoyed this prox- sive fashions in planting and has survived the imity to the sea, and for many years huge onslaughts of vandals, blizzards, droughts, clams and oysters were sold to the public in floods, and hurricanes; the sweep of winds little covered booths on the Common. Fox down drafty, building-lined streets; and the Hill was fortified in times of danger, and from disintegration of its perimeter fence. It has the shore nearby on April 19, 1775, the British even survived invasion by an incline entrance troops rowed across the site of the Garden to to the first subway in the United States. Yet Cambridge on their way to Lexington and here is the Boston Public Garden in the morn- Concord. ing sunshine, peaceful and welcoming to all, In 1794, a large part of the area was granted its swanboats floating languidly about the La- to private citizens for six ropewalks, because 33 it would be a safer location for such a fire- the city, the Proprietors appointed Trustees prone but essential industry than one near to act for them, though the Proprietors actu- buildings. In 1821, a great dam was built by ally ran the Garden. Once a year the Proprie- the Boston and Roxbury Milldam Corpora- tors met to hear the report of the Trustees. tion. Extending from the corner of the present Although the filling in of the land was only Charles and Beacon streets to the present partially complete, the Proprietors managed Brookline, with a branch to what is now to lay out their garden along what is now called Kenmore Square, its main purpose was Beacon Street (the level of the land was six to provide waterpower for the mills and facto- feet below it). A fine, broad walk, bordered ries separating Round Marsh from the Char- with ornamental trees, standard roses, les River. The result was that Round Marsh shrubs, and herbaceous plants, led to the became a vast mudflat of decaying matter and Charles Street entrance. Wherever the terrain refuse of all kinds. Even in this condition the allowed, there were beds of dahlias in excel- value of the land for development was appar- ent. In 1824, the city purchased the ropewalks. Business and political leaders wanted the land to be filled and sold for houselots, but citizens’ groups were opposed. To settle the matter, a citizens’ meeting was held in July 1824; it appointed a committee to prepare a report. The report stated that for the sake of citizens’ health it was public duty to keep the space open and clear of buildings, to allow for the free circulation of air from the west. It took the city years to complete the filling of the entire area. Fox Hill itself was used for fill. Even land from as far away as Needham was used. (Along Beacon Street, a modern contractor encountered an unexpected prob- lem : the old fence had been built on, not one sea wall, but on three resting one upon an- other. At the Commonwealth Avenue en- trance to the Garden solid ground lay about eighteen feet beneath the present path.) The City Council made other attempts to sell the Public Garden, in 1842, 1843, 1849, and 1850, A map of Boston showing the original extent of the but all of them were defeated. Shawmut Peninsula (in black) superimposed upon thee city’s current area. The increase is due to the filling in The Proprietors Establish a Garden of tidal flats and similar peripheral areas. As the map On February 1, 1838, seventeen Bostonians shows, the Boston Public Garden was established on headed by Horace Gray (son of William Gray, filled-in tidal flats, as was the city’s entire Back Bay neighborhood. The Commonwealth Avenue Mall, one of the former owners of the ropewalks) which will be the subject of Judith Leet’s article in the obtained a lease from the and became the city next issue of Arnoldia, appears at the middle of the Proprietors of the Botanic Garden in Boston. map’s left-hand margin. Drawn by Russell H. Lenz, this Each Proprietor paid one hundred dollars a map is used through the courtesy of The Christian year. Soon after they were granted the land by Science Publishing Society and Mr. Lenz. 34 lent varieties. They even imported a com- raised and sold flowers. He organized Fourth plete bed of prize tulips for fifteen hundred of July parades of children with bouquets of dollars. The Garden was popular with the flowers, which became a popular Boston tra- public. dition. His writings kept the citizens accus- Across the street from the Garden was an tomed to associating the area with flowers. old circus building, which the Proprietors Others worked, too. A small pond was created made into a conservatory filled with tropical and a simple landscape treatment was main- plants and rare singing birds. All of the plants tained. were botanically arranged and catalogued. Finally, the State settled the matter. On Admission for nonsubscribers cost twelve April 6, 1859, the Governor signed the Public and a half cents per person; ten admissions Garden Act establishing, among other things, cost a dollar. A magnificent collection of over the boundary line between Boston and one thousand camellias was a great attrac- Roxbury, authorizing the filling up of the tion. Back Bay, and prohibiting the erection of The Proprietors imported an excellent buildings (other than a city hall or buildings English gardener to take charge, held periodic used for horticultural purposes) between flower shows, and awarded generous prizes to Arlington and Charles streets. the winners. The prize for the best display of Until this time, private funds had sus- roses on June 20, 1839, was twelve dollars, for tained the Garden, while the City continued example, that for the second best, seven dol- to fill in the land. Now, the press and the lars. One year, Joseph Breck supplied seeds people wanted to have more of a Garden. The and plants to the Garden for one hundred Committee on the Common and Public dollars. The noted landscape architect An- Squares was appointed by the Boston City ~rPZ.y Jackson Downing even prepared a plan Council to report on a plan for improving it. (which, unfortunately, is lost) of an enlarged For this they held a blind contest, which was garden and bordering arboretum. won by a young architect, George T. Mea- All this was accomplished despite great cham. difficulties. The soil was poor, and there were occasional inroads of the tide, which did great The Meacham Plan damage to the plants. Hopes were high none- Meacham’s plan included space for a city hall, theless, and for years the Proprietors’ efforts a greenhouse, children’s playground, and geo- were unflagging-despite a fire that burned metrical flower beds, as well as statues, foun- the Conservatory to the ground and the lack tains, trees, shrubs, and grass. With its wind- of a greenhouse. ing paths and irregular-shaped pond, it was said to resemble Birkenhead Park in England. The Years of Uncertainty and Transition It combined both formal and picturesque ele- The Proprietors continued to operate the ments, but it was overcrowded with features. Botanical Garden until 1847, when Horace Under the superintendence of the City Engi- Gray went into bankruptcy; Gray’s friends neer, James Slade, Meacham’s plan was felt they could no longer continue to carry on modified, eliminating most of the formal the Garden, but their achievements provided flowerbeds Meacham had proposed.
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