Garfield Park Conservatory and Sunken Gardens - History

History

In 1871 the Jeffersonville Railroad sold 98 acres (40 ha) of right-of-way known as Bradley Woods to a horse track organization. The group's intent was to create a racetrack whose harness racing events and annual fair would compete with the Indiana State Fair. However, the Southern Riding Park proved to be an unsuccessful venture, in part because it was not easily accessible to the residents of the city. The Panic of 1873 caused the acreage to be sold to N. R. Rucker, the Marion County sheriff, who himself sold the area to the city of Indianapolis shortly thereafter in 1874 for $109,500. The city in turn leased the property to the Indiana Trotting Association; that group also failed, so control reverted to the city.

The city opened what was originally named Southern Park in 1876, the first park owned by the city itself. While University Park and Military Park are older, both are owned by the state of Indiana rather than the city. The park was renamed for President James Garfield soon after his assassination in 1881. Use of the park remained low during its first two decades because of its distance from the city proper and its lack of facilities. The City Council heard and rejected proposals to use the land for a dairy farm (1877), a city cemetery (1882), a factory (1885); and to relocate the Indiana State Fair in exchange for the then-current fair site in Morton Place (1878).

In 1888 the City Council appropriated $10,000 for improvements in the park, including a bridge over Pleasant Run. By 1895 a streetcar line had been extended to the park, allowing easier access. The Board of Park Commissioners was created in 1895 and another $10,000 was appropriated for repairs and to plan and remodel the facilities; in prior years improvements had been made haphazardly.

Major improvements were made almost annually for the next twenty years: a bicycle path in 1901; the Pagoda in 1903; increased greenhouse capacity from 40,000 square feet (3,700 m2) to 200,000 square feet (19,000 m2) in 1904; exhibition cages for bears, monkeys, and small animals in 1905; tennis courts and brick and limestone entrance and corner posts, also in 1905; and two swimming beaches on Bean Creek, one for boys and one for girls, in 1910.

Additional land was acquired for the park starting in 1893. Between 1893 and 1895, a strip of land running from the then-eastern boundary of the park to Shelby Street along what is now East Garfield Drive were added. In 1899 several acres in the northwest corner of the park were acquired. The final addition came in 1912 through 1915 when 25 acres (10 ha) of the Yoke farmstead were purchased as the result of a bequest from Alfred Burdsal; this area extended south from the 1893/1895 addition to Southern Avenue and includes the site of the Conservatory and Sunken Gardens. The result of these acquisitions was to increase the size of Garfield Park to 128 acres (52 ha).

In 1908 the city hired the noted landscape architect George Kessler to develop a Park and Boulevard Plan, which was adopted in 1909. Kessler spent the next several years detailing those plans. In 1912 he created a complete master plan for Garfield Park, one of only a few parks for which he completed a full plan. One of his aims in this plan was to make use of the existing improvements in the park. The formal Sunken Gardens, along with new bridges, were the major new elements in his plan.