History

A proposed map of the Public Gardens from 1850, in which the park would be replaced with housing lots.

A 1901 map of the two parks.  The plans have stayed more or less the same since this time.

The original plans by George Meacham, who won $100 to design the Public Garden.  At the top of the map is the proposed City Hall, which was replaced by the George Washington statue.

The Boston Public Garden was the first public botanical garden in the United States, and its older sibling, the Boston Common, was the first public park in the United States.  Originally, the land on which the parks and Back Bay are built was marshland, all of which has vanished.  In 1821, citizens built a dam to attempt to turn the land into useful territory, but only succeeded in making acres of mud.  The original idea for creating the Public Garden comes from a plan submitted by 17 Boston Brahmins, private individuals who requested that the city give them the land to create a public botanical garden.  The 1800s were dominated by such wealthy old-stock Bostonian aristocracy, and thus they played a large role in its founding.  However, these plans collapsed and the land was almost turned into housing lots.  Fortunately for future generations of park-goers, the land stretching from Charles to Arlington on the east-west axis and Beacon and Boylston on the north-south was officially designated for permanent public use in 1852.  Similarly, in the original plans, a city hall was supposed to take the place where George Washington’s statue now resides.  More stone and metal enhancements were added throughout the 1800s, including the bridge across the Lagoon.  As the Boston Brahmin culture with its emphasis on Victorian features disappeared, "gritty" Boston took over after a few decades.  The park fell into a decline along with the rest of the city in the 1950s and 1960s, reviving in the 1970s with citizen support and activism.  The Friends of the Public Garden managed to defeat the Park Plaza Urban Renewal Plan, which would have brought even more negative effects.  According to the project’s impacts report, “The deterioration and blight in the Park Plaza Project Area have had and continue to have undesirable effects on the Common and Public Gardens.  The Area’s visual blight, adult entertainment uses, traffic congestion, and low level of urban design all diminish the role that the Common and Public Gardens can play”.  The decision to not go forward with the Park Plaza Project reflects the city’s progressive nature that emerged during the 1970s and 1980s.