Cool Timeline

1916
The Garden Club of Hartford Is Founded
The Garden Club of Hartford Is Founded

The first meeting takes place on March 16, 1916.  Eight women are the Club’s charter members.

1916 — The First Civic Project
1916 — The First Civic Project

GCH members decide that plantings on the grounds at the Connecticut School for the Deaf, then in the Asylum Hill area of Hartford on Asylum Avenue, will be their first civic project.

1919
1919 — GCH Joins the Newly-Formed Garden Club of America
1919 — GCH Joins the Newly-Formed Garden Club of America

GCH is one of the earliest members of GCA, which was founded in 1913.  Today GCA is a leader in the fields of horticulture, conservation and civic improvement.

1920
1920s — Beautification Projects at a Number of Hartford-area Institutions
1920s — Beautification Projects at a Number of Hartford-area Institutions

GCH members plant a flower border at the Colonial Dames’ Webb House in Wethersfield. Other projects include beautification efforts at both the new YWCA in Hartford and the Newington Home for Crippled Children.

1938
1930s — Planting Trees at Trinity College
1930s — Planting Trees at Trinity College

Tree planting and beautification efforts over several acres at Trinity College were the focus of club members in the latter 1930s.  Three white oak trees were planted to commemorate the three Connecticut signers of the United States Constitution — Oliver Ellsworth, William Samuel Johnson and Roger Sherman.  In all, 212 trees were planted on the campus.