Only in Boston by Duncan J.D. Smith

148 Back Bay & Fenway–Kenmore 69 An Old Botanical Garden MA 02116 (Back Bay), the Public Garden on Arlington Street T Green Line B, C, D, E to Boylston or Arlington (note: the Swan Boats are only operational between mid-Apr and mid-Sep) Boston’s Public Garden has existed on Arlington Street (Back Bay) since the 1830s and opened to the public in the late 1850s. This makes it the country’s second oldest public botanical garden after the United States Botanic Garden in Washington, which opened in 1850. Together with Boston Common, it forms the northern terminus of the Emerald Necklace, a string of urban parks created by landscape architect Fred- erick Law Olmsted (1822–1903) (see no. 91). Until the early 1800s, the area occupied by the Public Garden was mudflats on the edge of Boston Common. The area had been used since 1794 by ropemakers, who gradually reclaimed the land using fill excavated from Mount Vernon (see no. 8). The City of Boston acquired this new land in 1824 and proposed it be used as a cemetery. This idea was rejected and instead in 1837 the Boston merchant, horticulturalist, and philanthropist Horace Gray (1800–1873) proposed the creation of a public botanical garden. The early years of the garden were fraught with difficulties. Initially the land remained subject to tidal flooding but despite this a tree-lined boardwalk was laid out and a former circus at the corner of Beacon and Charles Streets was converted into a conservatory, where the country’s first tulips were displayed. Unfortunately in the late 1840s Horace Gray lost much of his wealth and his conservatory succumbed to fire. Nearby Back Bay was also about to be reclaimed for housing and pressure mounted to build on the garden, too. Thankfully in 1856 it was agreed to save the garden and to use it instead as a way of en- couraging Boston’s well-to-do to relocate to Back Bay. By the early 1860s the main features of today’s 24-acre garden were in place, including the English-style landscaping by Boston ar- chitect George Meacham (1831–1917), the lagoon, and the iron rail- ings. Several fountains and statues were also part of the original plan, including, on the Arlington Street side, the Ether Monument (1868), commemorating the first use of ether as an anaesthetic, and a bronze equestrian statue of George Washington (1869) (see no. 22). The min- iature suspension bridge over the lagoon was also constructed at this time.