Perry's U.S. Exploring Expedition, which was conducted 

 from 1852 to 1855. 20 



A NEW PLAN FOR THE CAPITAL CITY AND ITS BOTANIC 

 GARDEN 



By the turn of the century, the United States Botanic Garden 

 had won national prominence, but it had not yet found a 

 permanent home. On March 8, 1901, Senator James 

 McMillan secured passage of a resolution directing the Com- 

 mittee on the District of Columbia to study and prepare a 

 report on "plans for the development and improvement of 

 the entire park system of the District ." 21 This resolution was 

 to have a far-reaching effect on the Garden, ultimately result- 

 ing in the relocation to its present site. 



Eleven days later, the Senate District Committee selected 

 architect Daniel H. Burnham, of Chicago, and landscape 

 architect Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., of Massachusetts to 

 propose plans for the development and improvement of the 

 District's park system. Burnham and Olmsted in turn invited 

 New York architect Charles F. McKim and sculptor Augustus 

 Saint-Gaudens to work with them in preparing their plans. 

 During the course of their investigation, the four men 

 undertook an extensive tour of the United States and Europe 

 in search of ideas they might incorporate in their final 

 presentation. 22 



Ten months later, on January 15, 1902, the recommen- 

 dations of the "Park Commission of the United States," as 

 the four men were formally designated, were announced 

 by the Senate Committee on the District of Columbia 23 That 

 afternoon, several Members of Congress met with President 

 Theodore Roosevelt and his Cabinet to examine the elaborate 

 plans that were on display at Washington's Corcoran Gallery. 



20 Keim, Keim's Illustrated Hand-Book of Washington, pp. 42-44. For 

 Keim's full description, see Appendix 6. A list of the plants believed to 

 have been presented to the Botanic Garden from the Perry Expedition 

 is included as Appendix 7. 



21 Park System in the District of Columbia, Remarks in the Senate, 

 Congressional Record, v. 35, March 8, 1901, p. 30. 



22 Clarence O. Sherrill, The Grant Memorial in Washington, Washing- 

 ton: U.S. Govt. Print. Off., 1924, p. 30. 



23 U.S. Congress, Senate, Committee on the District of Columbia, The 

 Improvement of the Park System of the District of Columbia, Senate 

 Report No. 166, 57th Cong., 1st Sess., Washington: U.S. Govt. Print. Off., 

 1902, 171 pp. (Serial No. 4258). 



39 



