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The '''Elm Bank Horticulture Center''' is the home of the [[Massachusetts Horticultural Society]], located at 900 Washington Street (Route 16), [[Wellesley, Massachusetts]], [[United States|USA]]. The site includes open fields and meadows, streams and pools, wooded areas and formal gardens.
The '''Elm Bank Horticulture Center''' is the home of the [[Massachusetts Horticultural Society]], located at 900 Washington Street (Route 16), [[Wellesley, Massachusetts]], [[United States|USA]]. The site includes open fields and meadows, streams and pools, wooded areas and formal gardens.


Elm Bank was given its name in 1740, when Colonel John Jones acquired the land and planted elms along the banks of the [[Charles River]]. The site was later occupied by the Loring, Broad, and Otis families before being sold for $10,000 in 1874 to [[Benjamin Pierce Cheney]], founder of a delivery company that became [[American Express]]. At the time of Cheney's death in 1895, the property contained over 200 acres (80 hectares), and passed to his eldest daughter Alice in 1905. In 1907, Alice and her husband, Dr. William Hewson Baltzell, engaged the firm of [[Carrère and Hastings]] to build a neo-Georgian manor house, and the most prominent landscapers of the day, the [[Olmsted Brothers]], to design and improve the gardens. In the 1940s, it became a seminary housing a group of [[Stigmatine Fathers]], who constructed a school building and ran a summer camp in the 1960s and 70s. Later, Elm Bank served as the home of the Quinobin Regional Technical School. The entire site was added to the [[National Register of Historic Places]] as '''Elm Bank''' on July 10, 1987, reference number 86003565 and is currently owned by the [[Massachusetts|Commonwealth of Massachusetts]]. In April 1996, the site was leased to the Massachusetts Horticultural Society.
Elm Bank was given its name in 1740, when Colonel John Jones acquired the land and planted elms along the banks of the [[Charles River]]. The site was later occupied by the Loring, Broad, and Otis families before being sold for $10,000 in 1874 to [[Benjamin Pierce Cheney]], founder of a delivery company that became [[American Express]]. At the time of Cheney's death in 1895, the property contained over 200 acres (80 hectares), and passed to his eldest daughter Alice in 1905. In 1907, Alice and her husband, Dr. William Hewson Baltzell, engaged the firm of [[Carrère and Hastings]] to build a neo-Georgian manor house, and the most prominent landscapers of the day, the [[Olmsted Brothers]], to design and improve the gardens. In the 1940s, it became a seminary housing a group of [[Stigmatine Fathers]], who constructed a school building and ran a summer camp in the 1960s and 70s. Later, Elm Bank served as the home of the Quinobin Regional Technical School. The entire site was added to the [[National Register of Historic Places]] as '''Elm Bank''' on July 10, 1987, reference number 86003565 and is currently owned by the [[Massachusetts|Commonwealth of Massachusetts]]. In April 1996, the site was leased to the Massachusetts Horticultural Society.


[[Image:Elm Bank, Wellesley, MA - Rhododendron Garden.JPG|image|thumb|left|250px|Alan Payton Rhododendron Garden.]]
[[Image:Elm Bank, Wellesley, MA - Rhododendron Garden.JPG|image|thumb|left|250px|Alan Payton Rhododendron Garden.]]

Revision as of 16:14, 16 July 2010

Elm Bank
Elm Bank Horticulture Center is located in Massachusetts
Elm Bank Horticulture Center
LocationBounded by the Charles River to the W, N, and E, and the carriage path to the S, off 900 Washington St., Dover, Massachusetts
Area182 acres (74 ha)
Built1876
ArchitectCarrère and Hastings
Olmsted Brothers
Architectural styleLate 19th And 20th Century Revivals, Neo-Georgian;Georgian Rev.
NRHP reference No.86003565[1]
Added to NRHPJuly 10, 1987

The Elm Bank Horticulture Center is the home of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, located at 900 Washington Street (Route 16), Wellesley, Massachusetts, USA. The site includes open fields and meadows, streams and pools, wooded areas and formal gardens.

Elm Bank was given its name in 1740, when Colonel John Jones acquired the land and planted elms along the banks of the Charles River. The site was later occupied by the Loring, Broad, and Otis families before being sold for $10,000 in 1874 to Benjamin Pierce Cheney, founder of a delivery company that became American Express. At the time of Cheney's death in 1895, the property contained over 200 acres (80 hectares), and passed to his eldest daughter Alice in 1905. In 1907, Alice and her husband, Dr. William Hewson Baltzell, engaged the firm of Carrère and Hastings to build a neo-Georgian manor house, and the most prominent landscapers of the day, the Olmsted Brothers, to design and improve the gardens. In the 1940s, it became a seminary housing a group of Stigmatine Fathers, who constructed a school building and ran a summer camp in the 1960s and 70s. Later, Elm Bank served as the home of the Quinobin Regional Technical School. The entire site was added to the National Register of Historic Places as Elm Bank on July 10, 1987, reference number 86003565 and is currently owned by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. In April 1996, the site was leased to the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, which in [2010 began to charge garden visitors] in an effort to bolster the organization's financial health.

Alan Payton Rhododendron Garden.

Elm Bank currently contains the following gardens:

  • Weezie’s Garden for Children - a series of small spiraling gardens, each giving visitors the opportunity to plant, water or interact in some way with the garden’s elements. Children’s classes are held throughout the spring, summer and fall in this special garden.
  • New England Trial Garden - a cooperative effort between the University of Massachusetts, the Massachusetts Flower Growers’ Association and the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. Breeding companies from all over the world contribute annuals for viewing by amateur and professional gardeners. This garden also tests unreleased varieties competing for All-America Selections awards, displays previous winners, and grows hundreds of cultivars submitted for evaluation by commercial breeders.
  • Italianate Garden - Restoration of the 1926 Italianate Garden, based on original plans from the Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site, together with a numbered plant list and even the receipts for the trees and flowers originally planted in the gardens.

See also

References

  1. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2009-03-13.