HomeMy WebLinkAboutIR 7220 INFORMAL REPORT TO CI1016'COUNCIL MEMBERS Ank No. 7220
�ppT a IV, September 29, 1987
To the Mayor and Members of the City Council
Subject: PLANNING AND NAMING THE FULLER GARDEN AT THE BOTANIC GARDEN
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The Fuller Foundation has donated a substantial sum of money to the Fort
Worth Garden Club, Inc. during the last two years for the purpose of
developing a garden honoring Mrs. William Marshall Fuller (1914-1985).
The Foundation has announced that it plans to make annual gifts to the
Garden Club to fund the planning, the development, and the endowment
of a trust fund for the maintenance of the garden.
Mrs. Fuller was born Adelaide Elizabeth Polk in Fort Worth on September
2, 1914. She was the wife of Mr. William Marshall Fuller of Fort Worth,
and the mother of both Mrs. Thomas M. Biggs, Jr. of Houston, and Mrs.
L.R. French of Midland. Mrs. Fuller served Fort Worth as President of
the Junior League. She chaired the Van Cliburn Foundation, the Assembly,
and the Jewel Charity Ball . She was also a board member of the American
Federation of Arts and the Fort Worth Art Association.
The area which would be developed is expected to be between one and two
acres located west of the courtyard of the Botanic Garden Center and
Conservatory, and extending to the creek area north of Botanic Garden
Drive North. The Fort Worth Garden Club and the Park and Recreation
Advisory Board agree that the site should be known as the Fuller Garden.
If the City Council concurs with the concept of the Fuller Garden as
presented, plans compatible with the 1984 Cultural District Master Plan
can be drawn by landscape architects Oliver Windham and Nathan Gaspard.
The plans would then be presented to the Park and Recreation Advisory
Board and the City Council at future meetings with a request to authorize
construction and to name the site. No fee would be charged for admission
to the Fuller Garden.
On September 25, 1984 (M&C C-8639), the City Council approved City
Secretary Contract No. 14151 between the Fort Worth Garden Club and the
City. It is a fifteen year contract providing that the Garden Club may
plan and construct improvements at the Botanic Garden with the approval
of the City. All such improvements are the property of the City which
retains full authority over their management, maintenance and operation.
Under this contract and a similar related agreement, the Fort Worth Garden
Club donated to the City both the Botanic Garden Center and Conservatory,
and the new lecture hall that is being funded in the name of Dorothea
L. Leonhardt by the Communities Foundation of Texas.
The development of the Fuller Garden would be a valuable asset to be
added to our parks inventory. The willingness by the Fuller Foundation
to contribute to a trust to offset the maintenance cost of the garden
is very desireable. Staff requests guidance from the City Council on
the concept of developing the Fuller Garden in the Botanic Garden.
�l0� r ugl as Harman
�/ City Manager
ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH, TEXAS