Golden Gate Park
The history of the San Francisco Garden Club and Golden Gate Park go back to 1926 when, upon the founding of the club, John McLaren, the “Father of Golden Gate Park,” was named honorary president.
In 1927, noting the litter in Golden Gate Park, the Club provided 500 woven rubbish baskets to hang from Park trees to collect the detritus.
In 2015, the Club planted 90 trees in Golden Gate Park to commemorate their 90th Anniversary.
In 2020 the club was scheduled to participate in the year-long celebration of Golden Gate Park’s 150th Anniversary. Unfortunately, the Shelter-in-Place precluded the celebration and the club’s involvement.
Pioneering botanist Alice Eastwood famously saved more than 1900 of Golden Gate Park’s Academy of Sciences’ irreplaceable rare specimens and early records as flames engulfed the Academy in the 1906 earthquake. In 1912, she returned to the Academy as Curator and reconstructed the collection, a priceless, irreplaceable Academy treasure which today includes almost 4000 specimens.
Alice Eastwood was one of the original members of the San Francisco Garden Club, serving on its initial Board of Directors. She was a lifelong club member.
In 2016, the club paid special homage to Alice Eastwood through the restoration of the Alice Eastwood Legacy Garden at San Francisco Botanical Garden, which originally was established in her honor by the SFGC in 1971. In 2019, the club gave another $50,000 towards the development and creation of GG Park/San Francisco Botanical Garden’s Celebration Garden which is adjacent to The Alice Eastwood Garden.
