Missouri Botanical Garden - Welcome To My Garden

Stop on Spoehrer Plaza Hello, and welcome to the Missouri Botanical Garden. My name is Henry Shaw, and this Garden was my gift to the city of St. Louis over 150 years ago, in fact the locals still refer to it as Shaw’s Garden. Since 1859, millions of visitors have delighted in the finest of horticultural displays. Not only is my Garden a place of beauty, it is also a leading center for scientific research about plants. Today, it is widely considered one of the top three botanical gardens in the world. Please join me for a journey through our history. Follow the prompts on signage throughout the grounds to learn more about my beloved Missouri Botanical Garden.

Stop at Linnean House busts / Photo of original landscape Although Henry Shaw owned expansive property, he planned the Missouri Botanical Garden for a relatively narrow strip of land stretching north from his country home. A fruticetum, or collection of shrubs, grew in what is the present-day parking lot. Just south of this area was the Main Conservatory, built in 1868 to house exotic plants. Shaw completed this small brick greenhouse in 1882. He wanted it to complement the original main conservatory pictured on the sign. He named it the Linnean House to honor Carl Linnaeus, the botanist who created our standard scientific system of naming plants and animals. The Linnean House originally housed palms, citrus trees, and other plants that could not withstand St. Louis winters. The original plants were all in pots; there were no permanent plantings. After World War I, the house was renovated: the roof was converted to all glass, and many loads of soil were brought in to create landscape beds. Rare conifers,

Stop at Spink Pavilion / Photo old entrance gate From the start, founder Henry Shaw had planned for his garden to be a place of public enjoyment. In March of 1859, the Missouri legislature passed the official charter, and on June 15, 1859, the Missouri Botanical Garden opened its doors to the public. Shaw welcomed visitors in grand fashion, they entered his Garden through the pillars of an impressive stone structure, in fact it was this building – well – more or less! Originally the Main Gate aligned with Flora Avenue, which at that time was a small tree-lined path leading to the Garden from the edge of the city at Grand Ave. Over the years, Flora expanded and the street was no longer in alignment with the entrance. By 1920 the original entrance was torn down and the materials reused to build this larger entrance structure, which is once again in alignment with Flora Ave. Today, this building is known as the Spink Pavilion and represents a fun bit of Garden Trivia. On the exterior of the building, is ins

Stop at Sassafras grove / photo original look of TGH The land that is known today as the Missouri Botanical Garden was discovered by Shaw as he explored the territory surrounding the city of St. Louis. It was a wide and seemingly endless expanse of tall-grass prairie, with few trees, except for a small grove of sassafras growing on a low hill. Shaw purchased the land and determined to establish a country home on the property. Shaw retired at the young age of 39. Years later prior to his last trip abroad he hired prominent local architect George I. Barnett to design his country home, a two-story Italian-style villa of painted brick. Completed in 1851, the house featured an asymmetrical design, with two high-ceilinged stories on Shaw’s western half, three low-ceilinged stories on the servants’ eastern half, and a tall tower in the center. Approaching from afar, the home’s tall tower and the sassafras grove were the first objects visible. For this reason Shaw gave the name, Tower Grove, to his country estate.

Stop at Museum Building In 1856, as Henry Shaw embarked on the creation of his garden, he sought the guidance of Sir William Jackson Hooker, the director of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew. Shaw wrote to Hooker about his property, about the extremes of the American climate, and to ask for help. Hooker responded, urging Shaw to combine both beauty and science into his future garden. He recommended Shaw acquaint himself with Dr. George Engelmann, a St. Louis physician and botanist. Dr. Engelmann was familiar with Henry Shaw before they ever corresponded. Engelmann had already written to premier botanist Dr. Asa Gray of Harvard, describing Shaw’s project and expressing his desire that something “valuable and permanent” would come of his efforts. Undoubtedly, Shaw’s associations with Sir William Hooker, Dr. Gray, and Dr. Engelmann helped shape the Garden’s future as a noted center for scientific endeavors. To augment this role, Shaw generously endowed the Henry Shaw School of Botany and the Engelmann Professo

Stop at Temple of Victory In typical Victorian fashion, Missouri Botanical Garden founder Henry Shaw arranged for his mausoleum long before his death. In 1862 he constructed a mausoleum out of Missouri limestone and placed the structure in a grove of trees directly in front of Tower Grove House. However, in 1885, Shaw changed his mind believing that the limestone would not hold up to the elements over time. He had the limestone structure moved here, and commissioned a marble statue, The Victory of Science over Ignorance, to be placed inside in 1887. The statue is an exact copy of the statue by Vincenzo Consani in the Pitti Gallery at Florence, Italy. In this statue Victory is depicted with her sword laid aside and writing on a shield with an inscription below that reads: The Victory of Science over ignorance. Ignorance is the curse of God. Knowledge is the wing wherewith. We fly to heaven. Shaw believed that, in addition to providing recreational, educational, and aesthetic benefits, botanical gardens sho

Stop at Mausoleum / photo posing for sarcophagus Shaw commissioned George I. Barnett for this octagonal mausoleum made of granite, complete with a domed copper roof and cross on top. The stained glass is of particular note, being of exceptional quality. The tomb is inscribed with words from the scripture: How manifold are Thy works; in wisdom Thou hast made them all; the earth is full of Thy riches. Before his death, Shaw posed for the marble statue that is inside the tomb. Sculptor Ferdinand von Miller II, developed sketches from the photographs and created a clay model for Shaw to approve. The sculpture shows Shaw at rest, holding his favorite flower: a rose. Henry Shaw died of malaria on August 25, 1889 at the age of 89. In keeping with his will, he was the first and the last person ever to be buried at the Missouri Botanical Garden.

Stop at Henry’s statue in front of Tower Grove House / Photo of younger Shaw Well, hello again! This is a statue of me, Henry Shaw. I was born on July 24, 1800 in Sheffield, England. I received my education in Sheffield, and then at the Mill Hill School near London. My father Joseph’s iron business had fallen upon hard times and the family could no longer afford my education. Eventually, I was forced to return home and join my father’s business ventures. In looking for new markets, my father turned to the Americas. In 1818, I accompanied him on our first trip across the Atlantic Ocean to Quebec, Canada. I must have impressed him, because the following year, he sent me to New Orleans – alone at age 18 – to recover a lost shipment. I was successful, but could not find a buyer for the goods. Determined to find a market, I purchased a passage up the Mississippi River on a steamship, the Maid of Orleans. The 40 day trip cost me $120. On May 3, 1819, I landed in a small French town called St. Louis. I spent 20 y

Stop at Victorian Garden / photo of the parterre Sheffield-native Henry Shaw called St. Louis home, but throughout his life he remained a proper Englishman at heart. In the 19th century, no English gentleman’s education was considered complete until he had made “The Grand Tour,” an extended trip intended to expose one to the arts, languages and cultures of Europe’s great civilizations. Upon his retirement, Shaw set out on such a trip, leaving his business interests in St. Louis to the care of his younger sister, Caroline. Throughout the 1840s, Mr. Shaw made several extended trips abroad, staying in Europe for as long as three years at a time. In 1851, on his final venture, he set out for London and the first World’s Fair. He visited the fair’s Crystal Palace Exhibition and the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, as well as the beautiful gardens at Chatsworth in Derbyshire, among the finest in the world. Shaw was inspired. During a walk through the Chatsworth gardens, he conceived the idea to create a garden of hi

Stop at Administration Building / photo of residence downtown Garden founder Henry Shaw’s Town House was originally located on the southwest corner of Seventh and Locust streets in downtown St. Louis. Built in 1849, the three-story, traditional residence contained seventeen rooms and two kitchens. It was designed by architect George I. Barnett, who also designed Shaw’s country estate, Tower Grove House. Henry Shaw passed away in 1889. In his will, he left $10,000 with instructions for his city home to be moved to this location: I devise and bequeath my property…to said Botanical garden, including my present City residence…being built of good and durable materials, but unsuitable to its present locality; it is my desire that when deemed advisable by the Trustees of said Missouri Botanical Garden to have the said residence carefully taken down and rebuilt on Tower Grove Avenue in some convenient situation in contiguity to said Botanical garden. Over the years, the Town House was expanded and used as a scien

Stop inside Tower Grove House, piano Shortly before the Missouri Botanical Garden opened, founder Henry Shaw had to deal with a very personal, yet very public matter. Shaw never married, despite the attempts of several acquaintances to find him a suitable mate. However, he maintained friendly correspondences with several ladies over the course of his lifetime, most notably a young woman named Effie Carstang. Shaw loaned money to Carstang twice. He also rented a piano to her for one dollar a month, with the agreement that it would eventually be returned. Instead, in July 1858, Carstang sued Shaw for breach of the promise of marriage, seeking a staggering $100,000 in damages. Shaw denied the claim, but after a stirring and nationally-publicized trial, Effie Carstang won unanimously. The New York Illustrated News called the verdict “the largest sum ever awarded in this country in such an action.” However, the court agreed to an appeal, and eventually reversed the earlier decision. Shaw had spent more than $1

Stop at Tower Grove House Tower Grove House is the country home of the Garden’s founder, Henry Shaw. Shaw opened the Garden around his country home in 1859 and oversaw its first 30 years. After 100 years of use as a private home, school, dormitory, and office building, the Tower Grove House underwent meticulous renovation. Furniture and materials once belonging to Shaw were located and returned. It opened to the public in 1953. Tower Grove House was rededicated on October 29, 2005 after another period of extensive restoration. The house has been restored to reflect how it looked when Shaw resided here. Today, staff and volunteers encourage visitors to take a step back in time and experience the country home of Henry Shaw. Many of the 19th century furnishings belonged to Shaw; others are of the same era. Timelines help visitors discover how Tower Grove House was used after 1889. Voices from the past tell stories of those who helped build Shaw’s Garden. The Garden has grown over the last 150 years. Come insi