Our History

Early Years 1928 – 1968

On December 14, 1928 neighbors and friends came together to organize the Belfast Garden Club.  Members voted to accept a constitution and bylaws, and chose the Belfast Free Library as the monthly meeting place. Our second meeting occurred nearly a month later, on January 29, with 14 members present, and chairmen of both programs and civic betterment were soon appointed.

During the 1930s, active committees worked on roadside beautification, civic betterment, and conservation. Approaches to the city were planted, and we reached out to city officials and owners of private enterprises for support and cooperation—affiliations and partnerships that continue today. The monthly meetings focused on planting and active projects.

The first Flower Show and Garden Tour, on July 19, 1935, showcased Mrs. Pratt’s rose garden, Mrs. Johnson’s Miles End, and the Johnson homestead, plus five more gardens. The resulting revenue provided gardening books to the Belfast Free Library, a practice that lives on, and landscaping at city buildings.

On September 12, 1940, as war approached, we hosted a Silver Tea to benefit the Red Cross. On July 16, 1941, we offered a tour of nine gardens, plus the famous Pratt rose garden. But the Club recessed during the WWII years while members focused on the war efforts.

After WWII, the club grew, expanding projects, including a large Open House Tour Day. With these funds, the club purchased books for the Belfast Free Library and trash cans for all the city street corners; trees were planted all over the city to replace dead and dying trees that were being removed.

Mid-Century and Beyond

By the 1960s, many founding members were elderly and less active. For six years, between 1962 and 1968, we met irregularly. In 1968, the 40th year of our founding, regular monthly meetings resumed.

During the 1970s, the club expanded its purpose. Once focused on organizing “landscape projects for beautification of Belfast, which can be executed with community cooperation,” by 1978 the club added the intent “to promote interest in horticulture, flower arrangement, and protection of native flora and fauna.”

Reflecting this expansion, monthly membership meetings began with club business, followed by a program, an artistic competition with a theme, a horticulture education session, and a social hour. Membership reached 59 members.

Committees addressed many of the same efforts we address today, including public gardens and educational programs. But others reflected the era, including both environmental improvement and legislative outreach.

Club voluntarism surged. We worked to beautify the downtown business district and civic grounds, including the Primrose Hill Mini-Park (now the Eleanor Crawford Memorial Mini-Park), and around the library, schools, and the Belfast information booth. We also initiated anti-littering efforts.

In 1975, that list grew to include the Belfast City Park Arboretum and in 1978, the Memorial Violet Garden in City Park. We reached out across generations. By 1979, Arboretum guides were printed for schools and the Belfast information centers. Educational exhibits were given to the elementary schools. We landscaped the City Fire House and Boat Landing, and provided monthly Garden Therapy programs at Bradbury Nursing Home on High Street and slideshows at the Belfast Senior Citizens Center.

A Garden Information Center was started at the Belfast Free Library. The Green Thumb Plant Sale, the club’s major fundraiser, was expanded. Junior activities were held at Pierce School. Pruning work sessions were held at public buildings. Throughout the 70s, a monthly summer weeding crew groomed Belfast’s burgeoning public gardens.

Today membership runs about 100 active members. We look back to stellar programs, including a session with renowned horticulturalist Lyle Littlefield, University of Maine Orono (who inspired the eponymous  on garden in Orono) and multiple eye-opening trips to Merry Spring, Camden; Sieur De Monts Springs, Wildflower Garden, Acadia; a walk on the beach entitled, “Flora & Fauna of the Seashore” with Professor Harold Gray, Unity College; and many others.

A full history, curated by archivist Allison Beards, is available to members, and we encourage our neighbors to join.