Garfield Park Conservatory, Sunken Garden and Lawton Statue

Indianapolis, IN, July 5, 2013:  We explored the best kept secret in Indianapolis--the Garfield Park Conservatory and Sunken Gardens.  Garfield Park is the city's oldest park.  The park was redesigned in the early 20th century by city planner George   Kessler who had been hired by the city to develop a park and boulevard plan for Indianapolis.  It was Kessler who established a conservatory and the adjacent Sunken Gardens.  The conservatory was replaced in 1954 by the current Art Deco/Art Moderne building which is claimed to be the first welded aluminum greenhouse in the United States.

The Sunken Garden is a formal garden of parterres with gravel paths and fountains which appeared to be under renovation.

 The terrace incorporates memorial bricks; Shamrock Garden Club is a member of National Garden Clubs, Inc.

Just north of the conservatory sits a statue to Indiana favorite son General Henry Ware Lawton.  Lawton fought in over 22 engagements in the Civil War, later receiving he Medal of Honor; after studying law at Harvard he fought in the Indian Wars and led the expedition that captured Geronimo; he fought in the Spanish-American War including the battle of San Juan Hill and served as military governor of Santiago, Cuba; he then fought in the Philippine-American War where he was central to several early victories before being shot and killed during the Battle of Paye (1899).  He is the namesake of Lawton, OK, the Lawton neighborhood in Havana, Cuba, an area of Manila, Philippines referred to as "Lawton", the former Fort Lawton in Seattle and Lawton Street in San Francisco, CA.

 Early in the 20th Century, Indianapolis movers and shakers commissioned Andrew O'Connor, Jr. to create a statue of Lawton.  O'Connor exhibited the statue at the 1906 Salon d'Automne in Paris and became the first foreign sculptor to be awarded the Second Class medal.  The statue was dedicated  on Memorial Day, 1907 at the Marion County Court House by President Theodore Roosevelt along with James Whitcomb Riley who read his poem "Voyage Home."  The statue was later moved to Garfield Park.