SECOND BANQUET TO GARDENERS. 59 
that they might compare notes, consult with one another, 
and do what they might think best towards promoting that 
pursuit which he had so much at heart. And I think, if 
we will look to the life and history of Mr. Shaw we shall 
see that in all of his designs he was looking for the ad- 
vancement of horticulture, and the refinement and eleva- 
tion of the people. 
In establishing Tower Grove Park he did a great work — 
a needed work at that time. I recollect well when we had 
scarcely a park in this city; and at the time when he first 
took steps towards the establishment of that park we 
really had but one, and that was the Lafayette Park of 
about thirty acres, in the southern part of our city. Nu- 
merous efforts had been made to establish a park system 
and to establish parks, and all of them met with failure. 
As long ago as the year 1854 I was a member of the 
Board of Aldermen, and there was a magnificent tract of 
land, west of the city —the Lindell estate, which some of 
my friends present will recollect, of several hundred acres, 
which could have been bought at between three and four 
hundred dollars an acre. Being a member of the Board 
I urged the passage of a bill for the purchase of that land, 
so near now to the very heart of our city, but the members 
of the City Council thought it was too far away, and I could 
not induce them to do it. And the City Council, up to the 
time that Mr. Shaw took the step towards establishing 
Tower Grove Park, was very backward, and in fact would 
do nothing towards establishing a park system. He gave 
his park to the public, and a sort of fever and inspiration, 
as it were, took possession of the people for the establish- 
ment of parks. 
But it was not through the City Council, however, that 
our parks were obtained. Some of my older fricnds will 
recollect that we secured Forest Park, one of the largest 
and most magnificent in the country, from the County 
Court of St. Louis County, instead of the City Council, 
and all the bills had to be rendered to the County Court. 
