Missouri Botanical 
Garden Bulletin 
Vol. VIII St. Louis, Mo., December, 1920 No. 10 
AN EARLY APPRECIATION OF HENRY SHAW BY 
THE ST. LOUIS CHAMBER OF COMMERCE 
The following quotation from the Fourth Annual Report 
of the St. Louis Chamber of Commerce, for the year 1859, is 
of considerable interest from an historical standpoint, since it 
shows how definitely, even at this early date, Mr. Shaw had 
formulated the scope and activities of the Missouri Botanical 
Garden. Twenty years later, the Merchants Exchange of 
St. Louis, in a meeting assembled in the hall of the Exchange, 
adopted a set of resolutions in which they attempted to express 
their respect and gratitude to Mr. Shaw for his donation of 
Tower Grove Park, with its bronze statues, as well as for the 
_ establishment of the Missouri Botanical Garden. This testi- 
monial, originally printed on satin, is reproduced on the oppo- 
site page (plate 15). 
‘Ag Economic Botany cannot but be peculiarly interesting 
to the people of this city and state, whose commerce is com- 
posed, to a great extent, of vegetable productions, it will be 
considered appropriate to refer in this report to a munificent 
bestowment to the city by MR. HENRY SHAW of a Botanic 
Garden, with all the appliances and endowments requisite to 
render such an enterprise efficient and permanent—the equal 
if not the superior of any similar establishment in the United 
States. The land which he intends to donate for the purpose 
lies only three and a half miles from the Court House, and 
comprises six hundred acres. At one point fifteen acres front 
on Grand Avenue, the boundary line of the city on the west, 
from which fact some idea may be formed of the value of the 
tract. The total of the gift may be safely estimated at one 
million dollars. For several years past the work has been 
steadily progressing, and at this time shows such a near finish, 
as fully to develop the liberal and enlightened design of the 
donor. The work of the year just closed was the erection of 
a Museum and Library, of fine architectural design and work- 
manship, at a cost of $20,000. The garden proper, with an 
(123) 
