Chicago Botanic Garden

General Information

About the Chicago Botanic Garden

Mission

The mission of the Chicago Botanic Garden is to promote the enjoyment, understanding, and conservation of plants and the natural world.

The Garden continues to strive to meet the lofty goals set more than a century ago. The Chicago Botanic Garden, with its world-renowned plant collections and displays, is one of the country's most visited public gardens and a preeminent center for learning and scientific research.

The 385-acre Garden features 24 display gardens and four natural areas, uniquely situated on nine islands surrounded by lakes.

HISTORY

The Chicago Horticultural Society was founded in 1890. At its heart was the understanding that the city of Chicago was incorporated with the Latin words Urbs in Horto, meaning "city in a garden." The Society hosted nationally recognized flower and horticultural shows from its beginning. Information on the first show the new Society hosted is lost to history, but records archived at the Chicago Botanic Garden confirm the second show was held in the autumn of 1892 at the Regiment Armory, possibly at 1542 South Michigan Avenue, where a new armory opened in 1890.

With two successful annual shows behind them, the Society next hosted the World’s Columbian Exposition Chrysanthemum Show, held in conjunction with the world’s fair in the autumn of 1893, at the newly built and just-opened Art Institute of Chicago.

After a period of inactivity, the Chicago Horticultural Society was restarted in 1943. In 1962, modern history begins when the Society agreed to help create and manage a new public garden. With the groundbreaking for the Garden in 1965 and its opening in 1972, the Society created a permanent site on which to carry out its mission. The mission encompasses three important components: collections, education, and research.

ARCHITECTURE

From its founding, the Garden has hired leading architects, beginning with John O. Simonds and Geoffrey Rausch, who created the master plan. Edward Larabee Barnes designed the Education Center as the Garden's first building in 1977. The Malott Japanese Garden, Sansho-En, was completed in 1982. The Daniel F. and Ada L. Rice Plant Conservation Science Center, which opened in 2009, was the work of designer/architect Booth Hansen. Throughout its existence, the Chicago Botanic Garden has developed gardens and educational facilities with a meticulous eye toward its original mission.

PHOTO: woman walking in Prarie Garden