HISTORY
IF
HISTORY is the record of past events, ideas, and acts that shape the course of
the future, then it was during the summer of 1936 that our record begins. At
that time several women got together to form a city-wide garden club, which they
named the Houston Federation of Garden Clubs. Their objectives included holding
monthly garden lectures, publishing a garden magazine for the Texas Gulf Coast,
and building a garden center. They held their first meeting in the Houston
Public Library in October, elected their first President (Mrs. B.E. Kenyon), and
launched what would become a 70-year history chronicling hard work, good deeds,
creative ideas, and dedication to their original guiding principle of gathering
together to learn and to share gardening experiences and talent.
The first educational program featured Mr. Teas of Teas Nursery, who lectured on "Cultivation of Roses”. The first issue of the “Gulf Coast Gardener” appeared in February 1937. The third objective reached reality in May 1938 when Mrs. B. F. Bonner found a plot ground in Hermann Park meant to be a Rose Garden by Hare & Hare, who had laid out the grounds of Hermann Park. The Park Board agreed to donate the three plus acres for a Garden Center instead.
In December, 1939, 400 volunteer garden club ladies with the help of 65 prominent business men from the Chamber of Commerce--such as E. W. Blum, Ben Taub, Judge Roy Hof-heize, Oscar Holcombe—raised $9,100 in a city-wide fundraiser. Mayor Holcombe applied for $15,000 in labor by the WPA. Ground was broken January 6, 1942, with 97 garden clubs represented. When money ran short due to higher prices the HFGC Board reminded the Houston City Council that the Houston Federation of Garden Clubs had provided all the city’s share of the original funds. City Council voted additional funds to complete the plumbing and sidewalks. The building was dedicated January 27, 1942. Ironically, the first educational forum in the new Garden Center was training leaders in the Houston Defense Program on growing Victory Gardens
The HFGC maintained and supervised the Garden Center until 1958 when that responsibility was turned over to the city. The Federation continues to meet monthly at the Houston Civic Garden Center.
From our early years in the Library and in the temporary Garden Center on the ninth floor of the Stower Furniture Store (1937) the Houston Federation of Garden Clubs has followed a bright path to the present. We anticipate an equally energetic effort in the future. Perhaps Mrs. W. H. Benton (President from 1947-49) said it best: “Coming together is the beginning, keeping together is progress, working together is success.”
