Between
Terminals C and D
(ticketed
passengers)
Since
its founding 100 years ago on April 30, 1913, in Philadelphia, the Garden Club
of America (GCA) continues to restore, improve, and protect the environment and
enhance our nation’s natural beauty through horticulture, conservation, and
civic engagement. From its 12 original clubs to 200 member clubs today, GCA is
comprised of more than 18,000 individual members from across the United States.
Its membership focuses on an array of issues and projects locally, nationally,
and internationally, adhering to their commitment of “preserving the past,
growing the future.”
From
their earliest days, GCA members participated in the Women’s Land Army of
America. Known as “farmerettes,” they temporarily worked the land for the male
farmers who served in World War I. In the 1920s, they campaigned against the
visual clutter of billboards lining roadways, testified before Congress on behalf
of parks in Washington, DC, and established a fellowship in landscape
architecture with the American Academy in Rome. In the 1930s, GCA fought to
save the redwoods in California, and decades later sponsored an international
horticulture exchange program. Since the 1960s, they have worked to increase
public awareness about pollution and endangered species. In recent decades, GCA
has sponsored hundreds of individual scholarships and donated thousands of
historical glass slides to the Archives of the American Gardens of the
Smithsonian Institution.
And the
GCA legacy continues. In honor of their 100th anniversary, all 200
member clubs initiated a Centennial Tree Project, which involved activities
ranging from propagating and planting trees to land restoration, producing publications
and even a documentary film. In 2013, GCA, in partnership with the Central Park
Conservancy, will complete another living project; as they call it, “a national
gift,” with the restoration of Central Park’s East 69th Street
entrance.
A
centennial later, GCA clubs nationwide return to Philadelphia for the 100th
Annual Meeting in celebration of their collective achievements as environmental
stewards for past, present, and future generations.
WWI Farmerettes, 1914-17
Garden Club of America Redwood Grove Dedication, 1934
Stonington Garden Club 2013 Centennial Tree Project