GARFIELD PARK CONSERVATORY (1908-2008)

Conservatory  History:
Welcome to our 100 Year Old Glass House         

This centennial year, we invite visitors to travel through time with us here at the Garfield Park Conservatory. Many of the plants growing in our collection have rich historical histories that literally make the Conservatory a living time capsule. In honor of our 100 year old great glass house (and all the people and plants who have kept it growing over the years), we have assembled a collection of historical “hot spots” throughout the grounds.  Come to the Conservatory this year, and commemorate the special people, plants, and places that set this birthday celebration in motion.
 
In honor of the centennial, a new exciting book about the Conservatory, Garfield Park, and the surrounding West Side neighborhoods has been published, entitled Inspired by Nature: The Garfield Park Conservatory and Chicago's West Side by Julia Sniderman Bachrach (author), Jo Ann Nathan (author), and Alex Kotlowitz (foreword). Many of the historical references in this document are indebted to information provided by Inspired by Nature. As this document mentions only a few of the important historical aspects of the Conservatory, please consider either purchasing this book (available at the Garfield Park Conservatory Gift Shop) or checking it out from the Chicago Public Library or any Chicago Public School. Page numbers have been included on sections that refer to text directly obtained from Inspired by Nature.
 
As what follows is just a fraction of information on the Conservatory’s collection, be sure to visit with your friends and family to get the whole picture. If you are of the ilk that likes to “know before your go,” please enjoy this document, available on our website at www.garfieldconservatory.org or better yet, purchase Inspired by Nature in our Gift Shop. While on our website, take a glance at the host of centennial-related events, programs, and activities we have in store. If you are more of the spontaneous sort, don’t worry, we have an abridged history lesson in the form of a fun family self-guided scavenger hunt available at the front deck for you on the day of your visit. Whatever your pleasure, come visit us, learn a little about the past, and bask in the green glory of the “100 years and growing” present.

Conservatory  History:
Revolutionary from the Very Beginning, both Outside and In

Outside, a Glass Haystack:

The Garfield Park Conservatory was built to replace the three smaller conservatories of Humboldt, Garfield, and Douglas parks. (Built in the 1880’s, and only twenty years old during Jensen’s leadership, these poorly built glass houses were already falling apart.) Jensen wanted to replace the old greenhouses with a single premier facility, and when appointed as general superintendent in 1905, he hired Hitchings & Company, a New York engineering firm to collaborate on his innovative design. At the time, most greenhouses structures were ostentatious and ornate in design. In opposition to Victorian showiness, Jensen designed the sleek structure of the greenhouse to emulate a great Midwestern haystack, rising eloquently and gently from the horizon.

(Direct source for this section: Inspired By Nature, pages 61, 62.)
 
Inside, an Arcadia:

When Garfield Park Conservatory doors first opened to the public in April of 1908, early visitors were in awe of how landscape architect Jens Jensen (designer of the Conservatory) seemed to have “brought” lush outdoor space indoors. Most conservatories of the time kept their plant collections in pots, and placed them either in the middle of their show houses or on benches to the side. Jensen treated each room as its own outdoor scene, and did such a good job mimicking the natural landscape (his dramatic waterfalls and rock-work were designed to conjure the images of bluffs and ravines along the Mississippi River and Lake Michigan) that visitors often mistakenly marveled at how a conservatory could be built around pre-existing natural springs.

(Direct source for this section: Inspired By Nature, pages 58, 62.)
 
Underneath, Groundbreaking:

Jensen planted many of his plants directly into the ground, which at the time, was a relatively new practice for conservatories. While infrastructure does exist underneath the Conservatory, with the requisite skeletal foundation, cement structures, pipes, etc, there is no basement to the conservatory. Soil brought from other areas of Chicago was brought in as fill for each room and layered directly on top of pre-existing soil. While this is not a terribly uncommon story, some Conservatory horticulturists are still convinced that many of the older tropical plants growing here today have roots that have made their way to the original first layer of turn of the century Chicago soil.