H. H. Hunnewell
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Horatio Hollis Hunnewell (July 27, 1810 – May 20, 1902) was an American railroad financier, philanthropist, amateur botanist, and one of the most prominent horticulturists in America in the nineteenth century. Hunnewell was a partner in the private banking firm of Welles & Co. Paris, France controlled by his in-laws, which specialized in trade finance between the two countries. Practicing horticulture for nearly six decades on his estate in Wellesley, Massachusetts, he was perhaps the first person to cultivate and popularize
rhododendron ''Rhododendron'' (; from Ancient Greek ''rhódon'' "rose" and ''déndron'' "tree") is a very large genus of about 1,024 species of woody plants in the heath family (Ericaceae). They can be either evergreen or deciduous. Most species are nati ...
s in the United States.


Early life

Hunnewell was born on July 27, 1810 in Watertown, Massachusetts. He was a son of Susanna (
née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...
Cooke) Hunnewell and Dr. Walter Hunnewell, who graduated from Harvard College in 1787, in the same class with John Quincy Adams. His paternal grandparents were Revolutionary War soldier Richard Hunnewell and Eunice (née Thompson) Hunnewell, and his maternal grandparents were Phineas Cooke and Abigail (née Durant) Cooke.


Career

Hunnewell was a director of the Illinois Central Railroad from 1862 to 1871. He was a railroad entrepreneur in Kansas beginning in the 1860s, and president of the Kansas City, Fort Scott and Gulf Railroad and Kansas City, Lawrence and Southern Railroad around 1880. At the time of his death he was a director of 12 railroads and numerous mining, real estate, and other ventures.


Philanthropy

H. H. Hunnewell made a donation in 1873 that helped
Asa Gray Asa Gray (November 18, 1810 – January 30, 1888) is considered the most important American botanist of the 19th century. His ''Darwiniana'' was considered an important explanation of how religion and science were not necessarily mutually excl ...
revise and complete his ''Flora of North America''. He also funded the conifer collection at
Arnold Arboretum The Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University is a botanical research institution and free public park, located in the Jamaica Plain and Roslindale neighborhoods of Boston, Massachusetts. Established in 1872, it is the oldest public arboretum in N ...
, Boston, Massachusetts, and donated the Arboretum's administration building (now Hunnewell Building) in 1892. Hunnewell was a friend and neighbor of Henry Fowle Durant (1822-1881), who founded
Wellesley College Wellesley College is a private women's liberal arts college in Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1870 by Henry and Pauline Durant as a female seminary, it is a member of the original Seven Sisters Colleges, an unofficial g ...
on Lake Waban directly across from Hunnewell's estate. Hunnewell made a donation to the College for Eliot Dormitory in 1887, and endowed the College's Chair of Botany in 1901. The town of Wellesley's greatest benefactor, Hunnewell built and donated the Wellesley Town Hall and Free Library building (completed 1885), along with 10 acres of adjoining parkland. The Wellesley Free Library has since moved to a new building. He was also a frequent donor, often anonymously, to many town causes. According to a resident at the time, "When leaving here for his winter home (in Boston), Hunnewell would go to our old Town Clerk, Solomon Flagg, and say to him, 'Be sure and not allow anyone to suffer during cold weather. Send them whatever they need and I will pay the bill.' Hunnewell and Flagg were the only ones that knew whose was the helping hand."


Personal life

In 1835, he was married to Isabella Pratt Welles (1812–1888), a daughter of Samuel Welles. She was the half sister of Samuel Welles de Lavalette fr Together, they had nine children, including: * Hollis Hunnewell (1836–1884), who married Louisa Bronson (1843–1890), sister of
Frederic Bronson Frederic D. Bronson, Jr. (July 20, 1851 – March 29, 1900) was a prominent American lawyer during the Gilded Age in New York City. Early life Bronson was born on July 20, 1851 in New York City. He was the son of Frederic Bronson (1802–1868), ...
. * Francis Welles Hunnewell (1838–1917), who married Gertrude Gouverneur Sturgis (1862–1890), daughter of John Hubbard Sturgis. * Susan Hunnewell (1842–1843), who died in infancy. * Walter W. Hunnewell (1844–1921), who married Jane Appleton Peele (1848–1893), daughter of Jonathan Willard Peele, in 1873. * Isabella Pratt Hunnewell (1849–1934), who married Robert Gould Shaw (1850–1931), cousin of
Robert Gould Shaw Robert Gould Shaw (October 10, 1837 – July 18, 1863) was an American officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Born into a prominent Boston Abolitionism in the United States, abolitionist family, he accepted command of the firs ...
. * Jane Welles Hunnewell (1851–1936), who married Francis Williams Sargent (1848–1920), grandparents of Governor
Francis Sargent Francis Williams Sargent (July 29, 1915 – October 22, 1998) was an American politician who served as the 64th governor of Massachusetts from 1969 to 1975. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as the 63rd Lieutenant Govern ...
. He died at home in Wellesley, Massachusetts on May 20, 1902, at age 91. Hunnewell was buried in
Mount Auburn Cemetery Mount Auburn Cemetery is the first rural cemetery, rural, or garden, cemetery in the United States, located on the line between Cambridge, Massachusetts, Cambridge and Watertown, Massachusetts, Watertown in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Middl ...
in Cambridge, Massachusetts, among his family.


Estate and arboretum

Starting in 1870, Hunnewell built country homes adjoining his own for seven of his nine children. These estates and adjacent farmland, with one exception still owned by his descendants, form the Hunnewell Estates Historic District, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1988. Both the town of Wellesley (founded 1881) and
Wellesley College Wellesley College is a private women's liberal arts college in Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1870 by Henry and Pauline Durant as a female seminary, it is a member of the original Seven Sisters Colleges, an unofficial g ...
(chartered 1870) are named for Hunnewell's estate, "Wellesley", which he named for the family of his wife. The
H. H. Hunnewell estate The H. H. Hunnewell estate in Wellesley, Massachusetts was the country home of H. H. Hunnewell (1810–1902), containing over 500 species of woody plants in 53 families. The estate remains in the family, and includes the first (1854) topiary gar ...
includes a prominent 1851 house designed by
Arthur Gilman Arthur Delevan Gilman (November 5, 1821, Newburyport, Massachusetts – July 11, 1882, Syracuse, New York) was an American architect, designer of many Boston neighborhoods, and member of the American Institute of Architects. Life and career Gi ...
with attached conservatory and gate lodges of 1865-1866 designed by
Gridley J.F. Bryant Gridley James Fox Bryant (August 29, 1816 – June 8, 1899), often referred to as G. J. F. Bryant, was a Boston architect, builder, and industrial engineer whose designs "dominated the profession of architecture in ostonand New England." ...
, a pinetum of 325 specimen conifers, a complex of specialty
greenhouse A greenhouse (also called a glasshouse, or, if with sufficient heating, a hothouse) is a structure with walls and roof made chiefly of Transparent ceramics, transparent material, such as glass, in which plants requiring regulated climatic condit ...
s, and the first topiary garden - the 'Italian Garden' - in America, all of which are still standing. The estate is part of the Hunnewell Estates Historic District, which includes the estates of many of his descendants. During the first part of the 20th century there were 20 contiguous estates for him and his family in Wellesley. Among other miscellaneous activities, Hunnewell owned the home in which
Horatio Alger Horatio Alger Jr. (; January 13, 1832 – July 18, 1899) was an American author who wrote young adult novels about impoverished boys and their rise from humble backgrounds to lives of middle-class security and comfort through good works. His wri ...
's father lived until his death, now called the Horatio Alger House in
Natick, Massachusetts Natick ( ) is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is near the center of the MetroWest region of Massachusetts, with a population of 37,006 at the 2020 census. west of Boston, Natick is part of the Greater Boston area. ...
. Oliver Bacon had built this house about 1824, and sold it in 1869 to Hunnewell. In 1909, Hunnewell deeded the property to the First Unitarian Church of South Natick as a parsonage.


Legacy

The railroad towns of Hunnewell, Kansas, and Hunnewell, Missouri, were named in his honor. The Wellesley College Botanic Gardens has a distinct Hunnewell Arboretum, named in his honor, across the lake. Rhododendron hunnewellianum also honors him. Along with
Nathaniel Thayer, Jr {{Infobox given name , name = Nathaniel , image = , image_size = , caption = , pronunciation = {{IPAc-en, n, ə, ˈ, θ, æ, n, i, əl , gender = Masculine , language = English , meaning = ''see ...
, Hunnewell is credited with bringing the game of
Real Tennis Real tennis – one of several games sometimes called "the sport of kings" – is the original racquet sport from which the modern game of tennis (also called "lawn tennis") is derived. It is also known as court tennis in the United Sta ...
(a precursor to modern lawn tennis) to America. The game was thought to have first been played in 1876 when Hunnewell and Thayer, who had played the game in England, brought an English professional, Ted Hunt, home with them from Oxford. They built a court on the corner of Buckingham and Dartmouth Streets in the Back Bay section of Boston and put Hunt in charge of it. When the land the court sat on was acquired by the New York & New Haven Railroad towards the end of the century, Hunnewell reorganized the club in a new building at the corner of Hereford and Boylston streets forming the Tennis and Racquet Club of Boston


References


External links

* *
''Arnoldia Bulletin'' — "The Hunnewell Arboretum, 1852-1951"
- ''article in the Harvard Arnold Arboretum bulletin.''
''Arnoldia Bulletin'' — "Private Pleasures Derived From Tradition, The Hunnewell Estates Historic District"Hunnewells, Gronk honored at Wellesley Historical Society spring gala
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hunnewell, Horatio Hollis 19th-century American railroad executives American bankers American gardeners American landscape and garden designers People from Wellesley, Massachusetts 1810 births 1902 deaths Arnold Arboretum Illinois Central Railroad people Burials at Mount Auburn Cemetery