Garden Club of America Amphitheater

Garden Club of America Amphitheater

When Fairchild created an exhibit of tropical plants for the 1939 World’s Fair in New York, it was seen by garden club members nationwide. As a result, the Garden was presented with the Garden Club of America Founders Fund for 1940. Garden Club members met with Fairchild landscape architect, William Phillips, to decide on a project. He suggested an outdoor amphitheater to serve as a meeting place. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) began the excavation of Royal Palm Lake and built the rock retaining wall, which forms a boundary around the semicircular amphitheater. A speaker’s dais was built on a raised platform; a round pool was constructed in front of it. Phillips carefully planted the area south of it with a collection of tall palms. He considered the amphitheater to be an area of quiet, formal scenery — a contrast to other areas of the Garden.