 |
An Illustrated History |
| Simple Historical Time View expanded timeline with images or without images. 1800-1820s Henry Shaw grows up in England and comes to St. Louis to start a hardware business. - Learn more 1820s Shaw first sees the land where the Garden will be located. - Learn more 1840-1851 Shaw retires and travels. - Learn more 1849 Tower Grove House constructed. - Learn more 1820s-1860s Shaw and slavery - Learn more 1856 Shaw seeks advice from Hooker, Engelmann and Gray. - Learn more 1857 Shaw begins to build up the Garden’s library and herbarium. - Learn more 1858 Shaw’s dream of funding a Garden was threatened by a lawsuit for breach of promise. - Learn more 1859 Museum Building constructed. - Learn more 1859 Shaw opens the Garden to the public. - Learn more 1860-1889 The Garden began to take shape during Shaw’s lifetime. - Learn more 1860-1889 The Garden contained an arboretum and a farm during Shaw’s lifetime. - Learn more 1860-1889 During Shaw’s lifetime, the Garden contained a formal "par terre" garden and an observation tower. - Learn more 1860-1889 Shaw’s attitude toward his Garden. - Learn more 1860-1889 Shaw was a generous benefactor and humanitarian. - Learn more 1867 Shaw hires James Gurney as Head Gardener. - Learn more 1860s Shaw builds a mausoleum, but then later rejects it. - Learn more 1880s Shaw commissions a sculpture of himself for his mausoleum. - Learn more 1880s A building in the Southeast corner of the Garden was used for many things, including housing students. - Learn more 1885 Shaw founds a School of Botany at Washington University in St. Louis. - Learn more 1889 Shaw dies. - Learn more 1889 Shaw’s will takes effect, establishing the Missouri Botanical Garden as a charitable trust. - Learn more 1890 In accordance with Shaw’s will, a local clergyman begins preaching an annual "Flower Sermon." - Learn more 1890s In accordance with Shaw’s will, his Town House is moved to the Garden grounds. - Learn more 1889-1890 The Board of Trustees takes over governance of the Garden. - Learn more 1889-1890s Trelease becomes the Director of the Garden and moves into an enlarged Tower Grove House. - Learn more 1897 Frederick Law Olmsted’s firm submits a plan for the future development of the Garden. - Learn more 1889-1915 The largest crowds at the Garden are for the two open Sundays and for the flower shows. - Learn more 1889-1912 William Trelease leads the Garden as its Director. - Learn more 1912-1953 George T. Moore serves as Director of the Botanical Garden. - Learn more 1913 Palm House constructed. - Learn more 1920s St. Louis suffers from coal soot pollution in the air. - Learn more 1923-1926 The Garden purchase a tract of land near Gray Summit, Missouri and moves its orchid collection to this property, known as the Missouri Botanical Garden Arboretum. - Learn more 1920s The Garden sends plant collectors to South and Central America and acquires a sub-station in Panama. - Learn more 1930 Due to the stock market crash of 1929 the Garden realizes a decline in available funds by one-third over the next five years. - Learn more 1931 George Pring patents his widely popular water lily hybrid, Nymphaea of St. Louis. It was the first patent attributed to the Missouri Botanical Garden. - Learn more 1934 Feeling the effects of the Great Depression along with the rest of the nation the finances for the Garden hit a new all time low. - Learn more 1935 A portion of the new U.S. 66 highway is dedicated as the Henry Shaw Gardenway. - Learn more 1939 The Garden relinquishes its Tropical Station to the jurisdiction of the Panama Canal Zone. - Learn more 1939 Business papers from the Henry Shaw collection are sent on long term loan to the Harvard University Business School. - Learn more 1939 "Friends of the Garden" is first mentioned in the MBG Bulletin. - Learn more 1940 The Arboretum (now know as the Shaw Nature Reserve) is opened to the public for the first time. - Learn more 1942 The Garden pitches in for the war effort. - Learn more 1946 A destructive tornado strikes the Garden laying waste to outside gardens, trees, and plantings. - Learn more 1953 Financial troubles mount for the Garden. - Learn more 1953 Dr. George Moore steps down as director of the Garden - Learn more 1954 Dr. Edgar Anderson is named Garden director. - Learn more 1956 Attendance hits a new all time low. - Learn more 1956 Dr. Edgar Anderson steps down as director and returns to the Garden research staff as the Curator of Useful Plants. - Learn more 1958 Dr. Frits Went becomes Director of the Garden. - Learn more 1959 Construction on the Climatron begins. - Learn more 1960 The Climatron opens to the public. - Learn more 1961 The Climatron revives Garden attendence. - Learn more 1962 Dr. Frits Went steps down as Director. - Learn more 1963 The St. Louis Herb Society establishes the herb garden behind Tower Grove House. - Learn more 1964 George Pring retires after almost sixty years at the Garden. - Learn more 1965 Dr. David Gates becomes Director of the Garden. - Learn more 1965 The first official incarnation of the Garden Gate Shop opens. - Learn more 1966 The Garden returns to the Panama Canal Zone for the purpose of botanical research. - Learn more 1967 John S. Lehmann dies; former President of the Board of Trustees. - Learn more 1968 Garden Guides program created. - Learn more 1971 Dr. Peter Raven is named new the Director of the Garden. - Learn more 1972 John S. Lehmann Building opens. - Learn more 1973 Ground is broken on the site that would later become the Japanese Garden. - Learn more 1974 Anne L. Lehmann Rose Garden is established. - Learn more 1974 Shoenberg Fountain is constructed. - Learn more 1976 English Woodland Garden is created. - Learn more 1977 Japanese Garden is dedicated. - Learn more 1978 The Floral Display House, built in 1915, is destroyed by fire. - Learn more 1979 The Gladney Rose Garden dedicated; formally know as the Linnean Rose Garden. - Learn more 1982 Ridgway Center opens as the new entrance to the Garden. - Learn more 1982 Swift Family Garden - Learn more 1982 Heckman Rock Garden - Learn more 1983 Zoo/Museum District is created within St. Louis with the Missouri Botanical Garden as a participating member. - Learn more 1983 Scented Garden - Learn more 1984 Goodman Iris Garden - Learn more 1984 Kassabaum Dwarf Conifer Collection - Learn more 1986 First plantings established for the Kaeser Maze. - Learn more 1986 Samuel (Jacobs) Bulb Garden - Learn more 1988 Jenkins Daylily Garden - Learn more 1989 Shoenberg Temperate House opens. - Learn more 1990 Heckman Bulb Garden - Learn more 1991 William T. Kemper Center for Home Gardening opens. - Learn more 1993 Dr. Alwyn Gentry, pre-eminent botanical researcher at the Garden, dies in plane crash in Ecuador. - Learn more 1994 Kiefer Magnolia Grove - Learn more 1995 Grigg Nanjing Friendship Garden (Chinese Garden) - Learn more 1996 Blanke Boxwood Garden - Learn more 1996 Piper Observatory - Learn more 1997 Kresko Victorian Garden - Learn more 1998 Monsanto Research Center opens. - Learn more 1999 Dr. Peter Raven named "Hero of the Planet." - Learn more 2000 Strassenfest German Garden - Learn more 2006 Dr. Peter Raven celebrates 35 years as Garden Director. - Learn more 2006 The Doris I. Schnuck Children’s Garden opens. - Learn more 2006 The Ottoman Garden opens. - Learn more 2010 Dr. Peter Wyse Jackson named President of the Missouri Botanical Garden. - Learn more - Researched and written by Kent Bunting. |