Elizabeth Park, Hartford

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Elizabeth Park
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
The greenhouse and herb garden at Elizabeth Park
Location	Asylum Ave West Hartford, Connecticut
Coordinates	41°46′34″N 72°43′08″W / 41.77611°N 72.71889°W / 41.77611; -72.71889
Area	102 acres (41 ha)
MPS	t
NRHP reference No.	83001259
Added to NRHP	March 10, 1983

Elizabeth Park is a city park located in Hartford and West Hartford, Connecticut. It covers 102 acres and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The park is owned by the City of Hartford, and jointly maintained by the City and the Elizabeth Park Conservancy working together.^[1]

The site was previously owned by financier Charles M. Pond of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad and Hartford National Bank, and a treasurer of Connecticut (1870–71). In 1894 he bequeathed his estate to the City of Hartford with the stipulation that it be named for his deceased wife, Elizabeth. The city took possession in 1897 and engaged the famed Frederick Law Olmsted for initial design and landscaping. In March 1896, the Hartford Board of Park Commissioners hired Swiss landscape architect, Theodore Wirth, as the first professional superintendent of parks for the City of Hartford.

In 1904, Mr. Wirth created its world renowned Rose Garden which today covers 2.5 acres. It is the oldest municipal rose garden in the United States, currently containing about 15,000 bushes of 800 rose varieties. In the 1970s the city decided it could no longer afford the garden, and initially proposed plowing it under, until volunteers banded together and came to the rescue. Today the Helen S Kaman Rose Garden, named after the first Conservancy president, thrives and has become one of the top tourist attractions in Connecticut. The beauty of the roses and arches in full bloom is beyond description. "Breathing taking." Combined with the other gardens, greenhouses, paths and woods, this park is a botanical gem in the northeast.

In 1977 volunteers banded together with Vic Jarm (Park Superintendent at the time) to form the Friends of Elizabeth Park and save the Rose Garden. Their first mission was to raise $10,000 to replace many of the rose bushes that died from lack of care. Since then the Conservancy has assisted the City of Hartford in maintaining the Rose Garden as well as the other horticultural gardens in the park and have raised funds for the restoration of the historic greenhouses and the Elizabeth Pond Memorial in 1997, also known as the Pond House Café. Most of the financial support for the park through the efforts of the Conservancy comes from individuals, grants and foundations such as the Ethel Donaghue Trust and the Kaman Foundation. In 2011, the name was changed to Elizabeth Park Conservancy to reflect their expanded mission and purpose beyond the rose garden.

Today the park encompasses many garden areas, pathways, century-old Lord and Burnham greenhouses, lawns, bowling greens, tennis courts, a picnic grove, and a scenic pond. The border between Hartford and West Hartford has moved since the park was established, with the odd result that one of Hartford's largest parks is now located primarily within the Town of West Hartford. However the park is owned and maintained by the Conservancy and the City of Hartford Department of Public Works and Parks alone. The Elizabeth Park Conservancy has full management of the Helen S Kaman Rose Garden, and the seven other specialty gardens. The four greenhouses and garden head house are used to start plants from seeds and cutting, force bloom of tulips for the annual greenhouse show, and host exotic and tropical plants. The Conservancy holds garden, tree and history tours, garden workshops, greenhouse shows, and their immensely popular summer concert series for the public. In addition to their mission to maintain and preserve the gardens and the park, the Conservancy prides itself on bringing people from all backgrounds together as a community.^[2]