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The Public Garden, also known as Boston Public Garden, is a large park in the
heart The heart is a muscular organ in most animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels of the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrients to the body, while carrying metabolic waste such as carbon dioxide t ...
of
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
,
Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...
, adjacent to
Boston Common The Boston Common (also known as the Common) is a public park in downtown Boston, Massachusetts. It is the oldest city park in the United States. Boston Common consists of of land bounded by Tremont Street (139 Tremont St.), Park Street, Beacon ...
. It is a part of the
Emerald Necklace The Emerald Necklace consists of a chain of parks linked by parkways and waterways in Boston and Brookline, Massachusetts. It was designed by landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, and gets its name from the way the planned chain appears ...
system of parks, and is bounded by Charles Street and Boston Common to the east,
Beacon Street Beacon Street is a major thoroughfare in Boston, Massachusetts and its western suburbs Brookline and Newton. It passes through many of Boston's central and western neighborhoods, including Beacon Hill, Back Bay, Fenway–Kenmore, the Boston Uni ...
and Beacon Hill to the north, Arlington Street and
Back Bay Back Bay is an officially recognized neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, built on reclaimed land in the Charles River basin. Construction began in 1859, as the demand for luxury housing exceeded the availability in the city at the time, and t ...
to the west, and
Boylston Street Boylston Street is a major east–west thoroughfare in the city of Boston, Massachusetts. The street begins in Boston's Chinatown neighborhood, forms the southern border of the Boston Public Garden and Boston Common, runs through Back Bay, and e ...
to the south. The Public Garden was the first public botanical garden in America.


History

Boston's
Back Bay Back Bay is an officially recognized neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, built on reclaimed land in the Charles River basin. Construction began in 1859, as the demand for luxury housing exceeded the availability in the city at the time, and t ...
, including the land the garden sits on, was
mudflat Mudflats or mud flats, also known as tidal flats or, in Ireland, slob or slobs, are coastal wetlands that form in intertidal areas where sediments have been deposited by tides or rivers. A global analysis published in 2019 suggested that tidal fl ...
s until filling began in the early 1800s. The land of the Public Garden was the earliest filled, as the area that is now Charles Street had been used as a
ropewalk A ropewalk is a long straight narrow lane, or a covered pathway, where long strands of material are laid before being twisted into rope. Due to the length of some ropewalks, workers may use bicycles to get from one end to the other. Many ropew ...
since 1796. The town of Boston granted ropemakers use of the land on July 30, 1794, after a fire had destroyed the ropewalks in a more populated area of the city. As a condition of its use, the ropewalk's proprietors were required to build a seawall and fill in the land which is now Charles Street and the land immediately bordering it (now a part of the Public Garden). Much of the landfill material came from Mount Vernon, formerly a hill in the Beacon Hill area of Boston. Initially, gravel and soil were brought from the hill to the landfill area by handcart. By 1804, a
gravity railroad A gravity railroad (American English) or gravity railway (British English) is a railroad on a slope that allows cars carrying minerals or passengers to coast down the slope by the force of gravity alone. The speed of the cars is controlled by a bra ...
had been constructed to rapidly bring material from the top of the hill to the marsh; today, Mount Vernon no longer exists, having been completely removed to be used as landfill for the Back Bay. In February 1824, the city of Boston purchased back the land granted to the ropemakers, for a cost of $50,000. The next year, a proposal to turn the land into a graveyard was defeated by a vote of 1632 to 176. The Public Garden was established in 1837, when philanthropist Horace Gray petitioned for the use of land as the first public
botanical garden A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens, an ...
in the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. By 1839, a corporation was formed, called Horace Gray and Associates, and made the "Proprietors of the Botanic Garden in Boston." The corporation was chartered with creating what is now the Boston Public Garden. Nonetheless, there was constant pressure for the land to be sold to private interests for the construction of new housing. The year that Boston's Public Garden opened, Mr. John Fottler Sr., dubbed "the Father of Our Parks", delivered the first load of plants ever set at the gardens, from the Hon. Marshall P. Wilder of Dorchester. While most of the land of the present-day garden had been filled in by the mid-1800s, the area of the Back Bay remained an undeveloped tidal basin. In 1842, the state legislature created The Commissioners on Boston Harbor and the Back Bay, in order to determine how to best develop the land; the state wanted to control the lands and to build an upper-class neighborhood in the area beyond the Public Garden. The City of Boston petitioned the state to grant control over the basin (which was controlled by the then-independent city of Roxbury), in hopes of generating significant revenue from any developments that would be built after filling it in. When the state commission rejected Boston's petition, the Boston City Council threatened to sell the garden to housing developers, which would have significantly reduced the desirability of the area for the upper class elite that the state was hoping to attract. The conflict between the City of Boston and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts was finally resolved when the
Tripartite Indenture of 1856 The Tripartite Indenture of 1856, was an agreement between the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the City of Boston, and the Boston Water Power Company signed December 11, 1856. The agreement settled the plan for the development of Boston's Back Bay, ...
was agreed to by both parties and passed a general vote of citizens 6,287 to 99. In the agreement, Boston gave up its rights to build upon the Public Garden; in return, it received a strip of land which is now a part of the garden, abutting Arlington Street. In October 1859, Alderman Crane submitted the detailed plan for the Garden to the Committee on the Common and Public Squares and received approval. Construction began quickly on the property, with the pond being finished that year and the
wrought iron Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content (less than 0.08%) in contrast to that of cast iron (2.1% to 4%). It is a semi-fused mass of iron with fibrous slag Inclusion (mineral), inclusions (up to 2% by weight), which give it a ...
fence surrounding the perimeter erected in 1862. Today the north side of the pond has a small island, but it originally was a peninsula, connected to the land. The site became so popular with lovers that John Galvin, the city forester, decided to sever the connection with the land. The landscape was designed by George F. Meacham. The paths and flower beds were laid out by the city engineer, James Slade, and the forester, John Galvin. The plan for the garden included a number of fountains and statues, many of which were erected in the late 1860s. The most notable statue is perhaps that of
George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...
, done in 1869 by Thomas Ball, which dominates the western entrance to the park facing Commonwealth Avenue. The signature suspension bridge over the middle of the pond was erected in 1867. Gas lamps were originally used to light the garden at night, but in 1883, construction of electric lamps was begun. There was initially concern over the use of electric lamps, as it would require wires to be run through the garden, and some members of government feared that it would harm the aesthetics of the place. But as electric lighting replaced gas lighting, and vandalism of the garden – such as the theft and destruction of its flowers – was a growing concern, electric lighting was eventually installed throughout. In the early 20th century, baby
alligators An alligator is a large reptile in the Crocodilia order in the genus ''Alligator'' of the family Alligatoridae. The two extant species are the American alligator (''A. mississippiensis'') and the Chinese alligator (''A. sinensis''). Additiona ...
were kept in a basin near the Commonwealth Avenue entrance; they were fed live rats and mice by local residents. A flagpole stands today on the eastern side of the garden, close to Charles Street and just south of the main entrance there. The original flagpole was struck by lightning and destroyed in 1918, and in 1920 the city appropriated $2,500 for construction of a new one. In 1982, the city granted an additional $25,000 for improvements to the flagpole. A circular granite bench was installed around the pole, with the work being done by the
Friends of the Public Garden The Friends of the Public Garden (FOPG) is a non-profit organization founded in 1970 for the protection and preservation of the Boston Common, Public Garden, and Commonwealth Avenue Mall. Located in Boston, Massachusetts, the Friends of the Publi ...
. On January 6, 1913, the
City Council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counc ...
placed the garden, along with the
Boston Common The Boston Common (also known as the Common) is a public park in downtown Boston, Massachusetts. It is the oldest city park in the United States. Boston Common consists of of land bounded by Tremont Street (139 Tremont St.), Park Street, Beacon ...
, under the direct management of the Public Grounds Department of the city. That department declared walking upon the grass of the Common or garden to be illegal, and arrests were made for that offense until at least the 1960s. Today, sitting on the grass is permitted except for specific sections of the lawn where a posted sign forbids access. In 2008 an automated sprinkler system was installed at a cost of $800,000. Heavy foot traffic, a multitude of plant types, the garden's historical and cultural importance, and a variety of
microclimate A microclimate (or micro-climate) is a local set of atmospheric conditions that differ from those in the surrounding areas, often with a slight difference but sometimes with a substantial one. The term may refer to areas as small as a few squ ...
s increased the complexity of the automated system. Originally, the Charles Street side of the Public Garden (along with the adjacent portions of Boston Common) was used as an unofficial dumping ground, due to being the lowest-lying portion of the Garden; this, along with the Garden's originally being a salt marsh, resulted in this edge of the Public Garden being "a moist stew that reeked and that was a mess to walk over, steering people to other parts of the park". Although plans had long been in place to regrade this portion of the Garden, the cost of moving the amount of soil necessary (approximately , weighing ) prevented the work from being undertaken. This finally changed in the summer of 1895, when the required quantity of soil was made available as a result of the excavation of the
Tremont Street Subway The Tremont Street subway in Boston's MBTA subway system is the oldest subway tunnel in North America and the third oldest still in use worldwide to exclusively use electric traction (after the City and South London Railway in 1890, and the Bud ...
, and was used to regrade the Charles Street sides of both the Garden and the Common. The Public Garden is managed jointly between the Mayor's Office, The Parks Department of the City of Boston, and the non-profit
Friends of the Public Garden The Friends of the Public Garden (FOPG) is a non-profit organization founded in 1970 for the protection and preservation of the Boston Common, Public Garden, and Commonwealth Avenue Mall. Located in Boston, Massachusetts, the Friends of the Publi ...
. It was designated a
Boston Landmark A Boston Landmark is a designation by the Boston Landmarks Commission for historic buildings and sites throughout the city of Boston based on the grounds that it has historical, social, cultural, architectural or aesthetic significance to New Engla ...
by the
Boston Landmarks Commission The Boston Landmarks Commission (BLC) is the historic preservation agency for the City of Boston. The commission was created by state legislation i1975 History Urban renewal in the United States started with the Housing Act of 1949, part of Preside ...
in 1977 and declared a
National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...
in 1987. and  


Description

Together with the
Boston Common The Boston Common (also known as the Common) is a public park in downtown Boston, Massachusetts. It is the oldest city park in the United States. Boston Common consists of of land bounded by Tremont Street (139 Tremont St.), Park Street, Beacon ...
, the parks form the northern terminus of the
Emerald Necklace The Emerald Necklace consists of a chain of parks linked by parkways and waterways in Boston and Brookline, Massachusetts. It was designed by landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, and gets its name from the way the planned chain appears ...
, a long string of parks designed by
Frederick Law Olmsted Frederick Law Olmsted (April 26, 1822August 28, 1903) was an American landscape architect, journalist, social critic, and public administrator. He is considered to be the father of landscape architecture in the USA. Olmsted was famous for co- ...
. While the Common is primarily unstructured open space, the Public Garden contains a pond and a large series of formal plantings that are maintained by the city and others and vary from season to season. Mostly flat and varying in elevation by less than five feet, the garden is designed in the style of an
English landscape garden The English landscape garden, also called English landscape park or simply the English garden (french: Jardin à l'anglaise, it, Giardino all'inglese, german: Englischer Landschaftsgarten, pt, Jardim inglês, es, Jardín inglés), is a sty ...
. A straight pathway, including a bridge that crosses over its pond, spans the two main entrances of Charles and Arlington streets; but its pathways are otherwise winding and asymmetrical. The Public Garden is rectangular in shape and is bounded on the south by
Boylston Street Boylston Street is a major east–west thoroughfare in the city of Boston, Massachusetts. The street begins in Boston's Chinatown neighborhood, forms the southern border of the Boston Public Garden and Boston Common, runs through Back Bay, and e ...
, on the west by Arlington Street, and on the north by
Beacon Street Beacon Street is a major thoroughfare in Boston, Massachusetts and its western suburbs Brookline and Newton. It passes through many of Boston's central and western neighborhoods, including Beacon Hill, Back Bay, Fenway–Kenmore, the Boston Uni ...
where it faces Beacon Hill. On its east side, Charles Street divides the Public Garden from the Common. The greenway connecting the Public Garden with the rest of the Emerald Necklace is the strip of park that runs west down the center of Commonwealth Avenue towards the
Back Bay Fens The Back Bay Fens, often called The Fens, is a parkland and urban wild in Boston, Massachusetts, in the United States. It was established in 1879. Designed by Frederick Law Olmsted to serve as a link in the Emerald Necklace park system, the Fens ...
and the Muddy River.


The pond

During the warmer seasons, the pond is the home of a great many ducks, as well as of one or more
swan Swans are birds of the family (biology), family Anatidae within the genus ''Cygnus''. The swans' closest relatives include the goose, geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form t ...
s. A popular tourist attraction is the Swan Boats, which began operating in 1877. For a small fee, tourists can sit on a boat ornamented with a white swan at the rear. The boat is then pedaled around the pond by a tour guide sitting within the swan. The current pair of swans are
mute swan The mute swan (''Cygnus olor'') is a species of swan and a member of the waterfowl family Anatidae. It is native to much of Eurosiberia, and (as a rare winter visitor) the far north of Africa. It is an introduced species in North America, home ...
s named Romeo and Juliet after the Shakespearian couple, however, it was found that both are female. Being no more than three feet deep at its deepest point, the pond easily freezes during the colder months. In 1879, the Boston City Council passed an order to maintain the pond for skating during the winter; today, there is an official skating rink maintained at Frog Pond on the Common, instead. The pond represented a significant health concern shortly after it was constructed, as it was fed by a combination of salt water from the
Charles River The Charles River ( Massachusett: ''Quinobequin)'' (sometimes called the River Charles or simply the Charles) is an river in eastern Massachusetts. It flows northeast from Hopkinton to Boston along a highly meandering route, that doubles b ...
, sewer water, and fresh water from Frog Pond in the Common. As a result, there was often a thick slime present in the pond, and an accompanying stench. Consequently, the caretakers of the garden drain and clean the pond annually.


Plantings

Permanent flower plantings in the garden include numerous varieties of roses, bulbs, and flowering shrubs. The beds flanking the central pathway are replanted on a rotating schedule throughout the year, with different flowers for each season from mid-spring through early autumn. Plantings are supplied from 14 greenhouses the city operates at Franklin Park for the purpose. The Public Garden is planted with a wide assortment of native and introduced trees; prominent among these are the
weeping willows Weeping Willows is a Swedish indie rock group that started in 1995. History The band's first two albums are primarily influenced by the popular music of the late 1950s to early 1960s. With their third album ''Into the Light'', Weeping Willows ...
around the shore of the lagoon and the European and American
elm Elms are deciduous and semi-deciduous trees comprising the flowering plant genus ''Ulmus'' in the plant family Ulmaceae. They are distributed over most of the Northern Hemisphere, inhabiting the temperate and tropical-montane regions of North ...
s that line the garden's pathways, along with
horse chestnuts The genus ''Aesculus'' ( or ), with species called buckeye and horse chestnut, comprises 13–19 species of flowering plants in the family Sapindaceae. They are trees and shrubs native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere, with six species n ...
,
dawn redwood ''Metasequoia glyptostroboides'', the dawn redwood, is a fast-growing, endangered deciduous conifer. It is the sole living species of the genus ''Metasequoia'', one of three genera in the subfamily Sequoioideae of the family Cupressaceae. It now ...
s, European
beech Beech (''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia, and North America. Recent classifications recognize 10 to 13 species in two distinct subgenera, ''Engleriana'' and ''Fagus''. The ''Engle ...
es,
ginkgo ''Ginkgo'' is a genus of non-flowering seed plants. The scientific name is also used as the English name. The order to which it belongs, Ginkgoales, first appeared in the Permian, 270 million years ago, and is now the only living genus within ...
trees, and one
California redwood ''Sequoia sempervirens'' ()''Sunset Western Garden Book,'' 1995:606–607 is the sole living species of the genus '' Sequoia'' in the cypress family Cupressaceae (formerly treated in Taxodiaceae). Common names include coast redwood, coastal ...
. Other notable trees include: * Beech trees ** European beech ** Purple beech ** Weeping European beech * River birch * Castor aralia * Western catalpa * Kwanzan cherry * Kentucky coffee tree * Tea crab * Bald Cypress * Elm trees ** American elm ** Belgian elm ** Camperdown elm ** English elm ** Rock elm ** Scotch elm * Horsechestnut * Japanese larch * Linden trees ** Common linden ** Littleleaf linden * Star magnolia * Maidenhair tree * Maple trees ** Norway maple ** Red maple ** Silver maple * Oak trees ** Burr oak ** English oak ** Pin oak * Pagoda trees ** Pagoda tree ** Weeping pagoda * Redwood trees ** Dawn redwood ** Giant redwood * Silk tree * Silverbell * Japanese stewartia * Japanese tree lilac * Tulip tree * Tupelo * Yellowwood * Weeping willow


Statues and structures

Several
statues A statue is a free-standing sculpture in which the realistic, full-length figures of persons or animals are carved or cast in a durable material such as wood, metal or stone. Typical statues are life-sized or close to life-size; a sculpture t ...
are located throughout the Public Garden. * Located at the Arlington Street gate and facing Commonwealth Avenue is the equestrian statue of George Washington, designed and cast by Thomas Ball. Unveiled on July 3, 1869, the statue itself is 16 feet tall and made of bronze, and stands upon a granite pedestal of , for a total height of . The statue was funded mostly by donations from local citizens, and was constructed entirely by Massachusetts artists and artisans. * Just north of the Equestrian Statue is Mary E. Moore's "
Small Child Fountain ''Small Child Fountain'', also known as ''Baby Fountain'', is a fountain and sculpture by Mary E. Moore, installed in Boston's Public Garden, in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. The fountain features a bronze sculpture of a nude boy, cast in 1929 ...
". * The
Ether Monument The Ether Monument, also known as The Good Samaritan, is a statue and fountain near the northwest corner of Boston's Public Garden, near the intersection of Arlington Street and Marlborough Street. It commemorates the use of ether in anesthesi ...
, located towards the corner of Arlington and Beacon streets in the northwest corner of the garden, commemorates the first use of
ether In organic chemistry, ethers are a class of compounds that contain an ether group—an oxygen atom connected to two alkyl or aryl groups. They have the general formula , where R and R′ represent the alkyl or aryl groups. Ethers can again be c ...
as an anesthetic. Designed by
John Quincy Adams Ward John Quincy Adams Ward (June 29, 1830 – May 1, 1910) was an American sculptor, whose most familiar work is his larger than life-size standing Statue of George Washington (Wall Street), statue of George Washington on the steps of Federal Hall, Fe ...
and gifted to the city on June 27, 1868, by Thomas Lee, it is the oldest monument in the garden. Standing 30 feet tall and made of granite and red marble, the statue's carved figures tell the
Parable of the Good Samaritan The parable of the Good Samaritan is told by Jesus in the Gospel of Luke. It is about a traveler (implicitly understood to be Jewish) who is stripped of clothing, beaten, and left half dead alongside the road. First, a Jewish priest and then a ...
. * Just north of the Ether Monument is
Daniel Chester French Daniel Chester French (April 20, 1850 – October 7, 1931) was an American sculptor of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, best known for his 1874 sculpture ''The Minute Man'' in Concord, Massachusetts, and his 1920 monume ...
and Henry Bacon's
memorial fountain ''Memorial Fountain'' is an outdoor fountain created by the architectural firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, located outside Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Portland, Oregon, United States. Description ''Memorial Fountain'' is dedicated to those wh ...
to the Boston philanthropist
George Robert White George Robert White (1847–1922) was an American philanthropist. Biography George Robert White was born in Lynnfield, Massachusetts on July 19, 1847. He was a citizen of Boston, Massachusetts for most of his life. As a boy he began workin ...
entitled "The Angel of the Waters", created in 1924. Constructed of granite and bronze, the fountain was disabled in the 1980s and remained so until 2016 when it was repaired and restored by the
Friends of the Public Garden The Friends of the Public Garden (FOPG) is a non-profit organization founded in 1970 for the protection and preservation of the Boston Common, Public Garden, and Commonwealth Avenue Mall. Located in Boston, Massachusetts, the Friends of the Publi ...
at a cost of $700,000. * The first statue in the Garden that was made by a woman was Anna Coleman Ladd's
Triton Babies Fountain ''Triton Babies Fountain'' is a fountain and sculpture by Anna Coleman Ladd, installed in Boston's Public Garden (Boston), Public Garden, in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. It features a bronze sculpture, cast in 1922, that depicts a boy and girl ...
on the east side of the garden. Though some people think the children are a boy and girl, they are in fact her two daughters. It was acquired by the garden in 1927. * Bashka Paeff's " Boy and Bird", in the fountain on the west side of the garden, was made by a Russian immigrant who did the model of it while she was working as a ticket taker at the Park Street Station of the MBTA. * Lillian Saarinen's fountain piece, "Bagheera", a dynamic statue of the panther from Kipling's Jungle Book, is nearly hidden by a tree. * A set of bronze statues by
Nancy Schön Nancy Schön (born 1928) is a sculptor of public art displayed internationally. She is best known for her work in the Boston, Massachusetts area, notably her bronze duck and ducklings in the Boston Public Garden, a recreation of the duck famil ...
, dating from 1987 and based on the main characters from the children's story ''
Make Way for Ducklings ''Make Way for Ducklings'' is a children's picture book written and illustrated by Robert McCloskey. First published in 1941 by the Viking Press, the book tells the story of a pair of mallards who raise their brood of ducklings on an island in t ...
'', is located between the pond and the Charles and Beacon streets entrance. * At the east gate on Charles Street is a
bronze statue Bronze is the most popular metal for cast metal sculptures; a cast bronze sculpture is often called simply "a bronze". It can be used for statues, singly or in groups, reliefs, and small statuettes and figurines, as well as bronze elements t ...
of
Edward Everett Hale Edward Everett Hale (April 3, 1822 – June 10, 1909) was an American author, historian, and Unitarian minister, best known for his writings such as "The Man Without a Country", published in ''Atlantic Monthly'', in support of the Union dur ...
by
Bela Pratt Bela Lyon Pratt (December 11, 1867 – May 18, 1917) was an American sculptor from Connecticut. Life Pratt was born in Norwich, Connecticut, to Sarah (Whittlesey) and George Pratt, a Yale-educated lawyer. His maternal grandfather, Oramel Whittle ...
, presented to the city on May 22, 1913. * Along the south walk in the park is a
statue A statue is a free-standing sculpture in which the realistic, full-length figures of persons or animals are carved or cast in a durable material such as wood, metal or stone. Typical statues are life-sized or close to life-size; a sculpture t ...
erected in 1915 of
Wendell Phillips Wendell Phillips (November 29, 1811 – February 2, 1884) was an American abolitionist, advocate for Native Americans, orator, and attorney. According to George Lewis Ruffin, a Black attorney, Phillips was seen by many Blacks as "the one whi ...
(1811–1884), an orator and abolitionist. Mayor
John F. Fitzgerald John Francis "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald (February 11, 1863 – October 2, 1950) was an American Democratic politician from Boston, Massachusetts. He served as a U.S. Representative and Mayor of Boston. He also made unsuccessful runs for the United ...
appropriated funds of $20,000 for the statue, which was designed by
Daniel Chester French Daniel Chester French (April 20, 1850 – October 7, 1931) was an American sculptor of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, best known for his 1874 sculpture ''The Minute Man'' in Concord, Massachusetts, and his 1920 monume ...
. * Colonel Thomas Cass, commander of the
9th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry The 9th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry was a military unit from Boston, Massachusetts, USA, part of the Army of the Potomac during the American Civil War. It is also known as "The Fighting Ninth". It existed from 1861 to 1864 and par ...
which served in the American Civil War is also memorialized on the south walk. The statue was erected in 1899. * Next to the statue of Cass is Thomas Ball's statue of Charles Sumner, a U.S. senator from Massachusetts from 1851 to 1874. This statue was constructed in 1878. * The walk also has a statue of Tadeusz Kościuszko, a Polish citizen who fought as a colonel in the American Revolution. The statue was erected by artist
Theo Alice Ruggles Kitson Theo Alice Ruggles Kitson (January 29, 1871 – October 29, 1932), also known as Tho. A. R. Kitson and Theo Alice Ruggles, was an American sculptor. Life Kitson was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, to Cyrus W. and Anna H. Ruggles. As a youn ...
in 1927. * A statue of William Ellery Channing stands at the southwest corner of the garden, facing the
Arlington Street Church The Arlington Street Church is a Unitarian Universalist church across from the Public Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. Because of its geographic prominence and the notable ministers who have served the congregation, the church is considered to b ...
. Completed in June 1903 by Herbert Adams, it was given to the city by John Foster, a member of that church, and placed in its location at his request. * The
Boston Public Garden Foot Bridge The Boston Public Garden Foot Bridge is a pedestrian bridge crossing the lagoon in Boston Public Garden, in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Built in 1867, it was the world's shortest functioning suspension bridge before its conversion to a g ...
crossing the lagoon, designed by
William G. Preston William Gibbons Preston (September 29, 1842 – March 26, 1910) was an American architect who practiced during the last third of the nineteenth century and in the first decade of the twentieth. Educated at Harvard University and the École des ...
, opened on June 1, 1867. It was the world's shortest functioning
suspension bridge A suspension bridge is a type of bridge in which the deck (bridge), deck is hung below suspension wire rope, cables on vertical suspenders. The first modern examples of this type of bridge were built in the early 1800s. Simple suspension bridg ...
before its conversion to a
girder bridge A girder bridge is a bridge that uses girders as the means of supporting its deck. The two most common types of modern steel girder bridges are plate and box. The term "girder" is often used interchangeably with "beam" in reference to bridge de ...
in 1921. Its original suspension system is now merely decorative. * A Japanese garden lantern dating from 1587 was gifted to Boston by Bunkio Matsuki and installed at the edge of the pond in 1906. One of the oldest lanterns of its kind in existence, it was originally in the garden of the Momoya palace in
Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...
and is made of cast iron. * In July 2004, a
memorial A memorial is an object or place which serves as a focus for the memory or the commemoration of something, usually an influential, deceased person or a historical, tragic event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objects or works of a ...
was dedicated to the 206 people from Massachusetts who died in the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Designed by Victor Walker, it is located just inside the Public Garden, at the corner of Arlington and Newbury streets. * At the beginning of the bridge by the steps leading to the Swan Boats is a plaque honoring United States Marine Lt. Michael P. Quinn of Charlestown, who was killed in action in Vietnam on August 29, 1969. The plaque was dedicated by the committee members of the Michael P. Quinn Scholarship Fund on Patriots Day in 1986.


Care and upkeep

The park is maintained by the City of Boston, which in 2005 spent $1.2 million to keep up its three parks. The city's efforts are supplemented by a charitable organization known as the ''Friends of the Public Garden'', also known as the ''Rose Brigade''. The charity helped finance the repair of the ''Ether Monument'' in 2006, and hires specialists to help care for the trees and bushes. Volunteers meet regularly to prune and maintain bushes. Financial support also comes from private sources such as the Beacon Hill Garden Club.Friends of the Public Garden
Beacon Hill Garden Club to Donate $55,000 to the Friends
. Nov. 17, 2010


Gallery

Image:Public Garden in Winter 1901.JPG, Boston Public Garden in the winter of 1901 Image:Wendell Phillips Memorial Dedication 1915.JPG, Dedication ceremony of the Wendell Phillips Monument in July 1915 File:2017 Boston Public Garden Lagoon Bridge from south.jpg, Lagoon bridge in the Boston Public Garden, 2017 Image:Boston Public Garden panorama.jpg, Panorama, 2006 File:Statue of Wendell Phillips in the Boston Public Garden.jpg,
Memorial A memorial is an object or place which serves as a focus for the memory or the commemoration of something, usually an influential, deceased person or a historical, tragic event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objects or works of a ...
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Wendell Phillips Wendell Phillips (November 29, 1811 – February 2, 1884) was an American abolitionist, advocate for Native Americans, orator, and attorney. According to George Lewis Ruffin, a Black attorney, Phillips was seen by many Blacks as "the one whi ...
, 2007 File:Triton Babies, Public Garden, Boston, MA - IMG 5470.JPG,
Triton Babies Fountain ''Triton Babies Fountain'' is a fountain and sculpture by Anna Coleman Ladd, installed in Boston's Public Garden (Boston), Public Garden, in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. It features a bronze sculpture, cast in 1922, that depicts a boy and girl ...
Image:Horace Gray.JPG, Horace Gray, father of the Boston Public Garden File:2017 Boston Public Garden sign.jpg, Entrance sign, 2017 Image:Ether Monument Overview.JPG, The
Ether Monument The Ether Monument, also known as The Good Samaritan, is a statue and fountain near the northwest corner of Boston's Public Garden, near the intersection of Arlington Street and Marlborough Street. It commemorates the use of ether in anesthesi ...
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John Quincy Adams Ward John Quincy Adams Ward (June 29, 1830 – May 1, 1910) was an American sculptor, whose most familiar work is his larger than life-size standing Statue of George Washington (Wall Street), statue of George Washington on the steps of Federal Hall, Fe ...
, 2008 File:Charles Sumner statue in Boston Public Garden - detail.JPG, Statue of Charles Sumner Image:2013 Boston Public Garden ducklings Red Sox fans 25 October.jpg, ''
Make Way for Ducklings ''Make Way for Ducklings'' is a children's picture book written and illustrated by Robert McCloskey. First published in 1941 by the Viking Press, the book tells the story of a pair of mallards who raise their brood of ducklings on an island in t ...
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Nancy Schön Nancy Schön (born 1928) is a sculptor of public art displayed internationally. She is best known for her work in the Boston, Massachusetts area, notably her bronze duck and ducklings in the Boston Public Garden, a recreation of the duck famil ...
, specially costumed as
Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ...
fans, October 2013 File:Boston Public Garden (36008p).jpg, Public Garden in November 2019 File:The swan pond at the Boston Public Garden.jpg, The swan pond at the Boston Public Garden with a view of the Arlington Street Church steeple.


See also

*
List of botanical gardens in the United States This list is intended to include all significant botanical gardens and arboretums in the United States.List of National Historic Landmarks in Boston This is a list of National Historic Landmarks in Boston, Massachusetts. It includes 57 properties and districts designated as National Historic Landmarks in the city of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Another 131 National Historic Landmarks ...
*
National Register of Historic Places listings in northern Boston, Massachusetts __NOTOC__ Boston, Massachusetts is home to many listings on the National Register of Historic Places. This list encompasses those locations that are located north of the Massachusetts Turnpike. See National Register of Historic Places listings in s ...


References

Notes Bibliography * Further reading * * Edwin G. Heath. From Round Marsh to Public Garden
The Bostonian
v.2, no.6, 1895.


External links


Friends of the Public Garden

Public Garden. Fodors.com
May 22, 2005.
The Swan Boats of Boston - The Public Garden
May 22, 2005.
Photos of the Public Garden



Boston Public Garden Study Report
published by the Boston Landmarks Commission, 1977 {{DEFAULTSORT:Public Garden 1837 establishments in Massachusetts Botanical gardens in Massachusetts Emerald Necklace Historic districts in Suffolk County, Massachusetts Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Landmarks in Back Bay, Boston National Historic Landmarks in Boston National Register of Historic Places in Boston Parks in Boston U.S. Route 20