It was Philadelphia industrialist Andrew M. Eastwick who had the vision to preserve the Garden for posterity.

As a poor child, Eastwick had whiled away many a pleasant Sunday afternoon at the Garden, which he called "paradise." He hoped to some day be rich enough to buy the garden, a dream he realized in 1850, after making his fortune in the railroad industry. "I don't want a solitary branch cut," proclaimed Eastwick, who built his grand house, Bartram Hall, on a nearby hill," so that not a bush of this beloved old garden shall be disturbed. My dearest hope is that the garden shall be preserved forever."

His purchase of the site prevented its destruction by the industrial sprawl that was engulfing the lower Schuylkill River. Decades later, his former gardener turned City Councilman, Thomas Meehan, spearheaded the campaign to acquire the Bartram property, which became part of the City's public park system in 1891.
 

HISTORY TOUR SEQUENCE

*John Bartram
*William Bartram
*The Next Generation
*Andrew Eastwick

NEXT STOP

*The Bartram Association