Henry Shaw (botanist)
Encyclopedia
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...
, England – August 25, 1889 in St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
) was a philanthropist
Philanthropist
A philanthropist is someone who engages in philanthropy; that is, someone who donates his or her time, money, and/or reputation to charitable causes...
and is best known as the founder of the Missouri Botanical Garden
Missouri Botanical Garden
The Missouri Botanical Garden is a botanical garden located in St. Louis, Missouri. It is also known informally as Shaw's Garden for founder Henry Shaw, a botanist and philanthropist.-History:...
.
Early life
Shaw was born on July 24, 1800 in SheffieldSheffield
Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...
, England, which had been a center of iron and steel manufacturing for centuries. Henry’s father, Joseph Shaw, had moved to Sheffield as a young man to open his own iron factory, along with a partner. The firm manufactured grates, fire irons and so forth. Henry was the oldest of four children in the family. He had two sisters, Sarah and Caroline, and a brother who died in infancy. Shaw received his primary school education in the village of Thone near his home in Sheffield. When he was about ten or eleven, however, he was transferred to the Mill Hill School
Mill Hill School
Mill Hill School, in Mill Hill, London, is a coeducational independent school for boarding and day pupils aged 13–18. It is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference, an organisation of public schools in the United Kingdom....
near London. He remained at this boarding school for about six years, before returning home to Sheffield in 1816 or 1817.
Shaw was forced to return to Sheffield, it seems, because of his father’s financial difficulties. While he had been away at school, his father’s business had come upon hard times. The family could no longer afford the luxury of sending young Henry to the expensive school with other children of the upper classes. Nevertheless, Shaw had gained in his time at Mill Hill School the basic education of an English gentleman. He had studied the classics, learned some Latin and Greek, and studied French. He also studied mathematics and was introduced to the sciences. More importantly, however, he acquired the attitudes and outlook of an English gentleman, traits that he would continue to have even after decades of life in the United States.
Business career
On his return to Sheffield, Henry began to assist his father with the business. Searching for new markets, the elder Shaw turned his sights on the vast markets of the Americas. Iron and steel manufacturing in the former colonies was not as advanced as in England, and indeed, Sheffield steel products were some of the finest in the world. In 1818, Henry accompanied his father on his first trip across the Atlantic Ocean where the pair did business in Quebec, Canada. Young Henry must have impressed his father with his business acumen, because the next year he was sent to New Orleans alone on business, even though he was still a teenager.A shipment of goods to New Orleans had been lost or misplaced and Hank was sent to find the shipment. Although he recovered the goods, he could not find a buyer in New Orleans. With the business acumen and entrepreneurial spirit that was to mark his adult life, Shaw was determined to find a market for the goods in the interior of the country. Vast territories of the American Midwest had been opened up in the previous decade by the Louisiana Purchase, which nearly doubled the size of the United States. In about 1817, New Orleans had become the gateway to this vast interior markets when the first steam powered paddlewheel boat made its way up the Mississippi River from the port of New Orleans.
In the Spring of 1819, Henry Shaw purchased passage for himself and his goods on a steamship called the Maid of Orleans. The trip, which took 40 days, cost Shaw $120. On May 3, 1819, Shaw landed in a small French village on the Mississippi called St. Louis. At the time, the village was about fifty years old. It ran about three blocks deep for about a mile along the bank of the river. Shaw set up a hardware store in St. Louis, selling high quality cutlery and other metal products. His first storefront was at Four North Main, on the west side of the street between Market and Chestnut. The goods were purchased by Shaw’s uncle, James Hoole, back home in Sheffield and shipped to St. Louis. Hoole also provided the initial capital for the business. It turned out to be a good investment. It was a good time to be in the hardware business in St. Louis.
Retirement
Following his retirement Shaw travelled extensively, and returned to St. Louis in 1851. He engaged architect George I. BarnettGeorge I. Barnett
George Ingham Barnett was an architect from St. Louis, Missouri. He was called The Dean of St. Louis Architecture for his contributions to the buildings of St. Louis as well as for his influence on other architects in the United States....
(who later also designed Shaw's mausoleum) to design and build Tower Grove House, which became his estate. Working with leading botanists, Shaw planned, funded and built what would become the Missouri Botanical Garden on the land around his home. As the garden became more extensive, Shaw decided to open it to the general public in 1859.
Shaw donated additional land adjoining the garden to the city of St. Louis for Tower Grove Park
Tower Grove Park
Tower Grove Park is a municipal park in the City of St. Louis, Missouri. Most of its land was donated to the city by Henry Shaw in 1868. It is on 289 acres adjacent to the Missouri Botanical Garden, another of Shaw’s legacies. It extends 1.6 miles from west to east, between Kingshighway...
and also helped with its construction, including the pavilions and various works of art. He gave the city a school and land for a hospital. He endowed Washington University’s School of Botany, and helped found the Missouri Historical Society
Missouri Historical Society
The Missouri Historical Society was founded in St. Louis in 1866. Founding members created the historical society "for the purpose of saving from oblivion the early history of the city and state."- Organization :...
. Shaw died in 1889 and is buried in a mausoleum surrounded by a grove of trees on the grounds of the gardens he founded. He is widely remembered for his generosity and philanthropy. Over 100 years after his death, many who visit the Missouri Botanical Gardens still refer to it affectionately as "Shaw's Garden" or "Hank's Garden."
External links
- Missouri Botanical Garden
- Historical Timeline
- Henry Shaw's entry in the St. Louis Walk of FameSt. Louis Walk of FameThe St. Louis Walk of Fame honors well-known people from St. Louis, Missouri, who made contributions to culture of the United States. All inductees were either born in the Greater St. Louis area or spent their formative or creative years there...