USS Cabildo (LSD-16) Crewmember Reunion 2004
September 9 -12, 2004 - Saint Louis, Missouri
Tour the Beautiful Missouri Botanical Gardens (Shaw Gardens)
Henry Shaw
Henry was born July 24, 1800, in Sheffield, England. On May 4, 1819, Shaw arrived in St. Louis aboard the Maid of Orleans steamboat. He was impressed by the pleasant appearance of the houses, most with fruit trees blossoming in their yards. The village of St. Louis still occupied the same area that Pierre Laclede, the village's founder, had platted fifty years before. Three blocks deep east and west, it stretched a mile along the river. Shaw began selling his tools to soldiers at frontier posts, farmers in the hinterland, emigrants moving west, and residents of St. Louis. His first store front was in the Tracy-Wahrendorff establishment at Four North Main, on the west side of the street between Market and Chestnut. Soon, he was importing an expanding variety of merchandise from England, and selling it in St. Louis.
By the 1830's, Henry's import-export business was thriving, and he began investing in real estate. He owned much of the property in South St. Louis and in the vicinity of the Garden, as well as considerable property in downtown St. Louis. At the end of 1839, after amassing a small fortune, Henry retired from the retail business at the age of forty and began to travel extensively.
In 1851, while in London, Henry visited the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew and the Crystal Palace Exhibition. He was also a guest at Chatsworth, the Duke of Devonshire's country seat in Derbyshire. These visits were his inspiration for establishing a botanical garden in St. Louis. His country villa (Tower Grove House) had been built on part of an 1,800-acre tract at the outskirts of St. Louis. Upon his return to the U.S., Henry began sketching out plans for the layout of the garden and planted thousands of trees and shrubs on eighty acres of this country estate.
In addition to planning the garden for
his personal pleasure, Henry also wanted the public to be able to enjoy its serenity
and beauty while making it accessible to those wishing to conduct botanical studies.
In essence, he was defining the current three-pronged focus of the Garden, research,
display, and education. In 1859, the Garden was opened to the public six days
a week and two Sundays a year. It has remained a haven inside the bustling limits
of St. Louis to this day.
USS Cabildo (LSD-16) Association Website - Last Revision
February 21, 2004
This page is maintained by Warren Gammeter <Webmaster@usscabildo.org>.