A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE CLUB

In 1959, when the Spruce Hill Garden Club was formed, the only wildlife at the corner of 44th and Locust was vermin and weeds. The corner was a typical vacant lot, filled with trash and strewn with rubble from the two houses that once stood there.

Not that neighbors were unconcerned. That year, four women-- Ellen Donovan, Edythe Ferris, Virginia King Johnson and Lucille Jones --surveyed the neighborhood and brainstormed about ways to beautify eyesores like the one at 44th and Locust. On June 25, l959, they held the first meeting of the Spruce Hill Garden Club. Two years later they began cleaning up and planting several vacant lots, including the one that is now the Spruce Hill Garden Club Garden.

Besides these gardens, over the years the club planted many street trees and crape myrtle bushes, whose showy pink blossoms decorate the neighborhood in summer. In the club’s l964 yearbook, then-president Gertrude Barnes noted that activities included bulb planting, a contest for the prettiest front yard, and the addition of 12 trash baskets to the area. The club also helped beautify the front of the Free Library branch at 40th and Walnut and the courtyard of the Woodland Presbyterian Church at 42nd and Pine.

In the earlier years, club members exhibited-- and frequently won prizes-- in area flower shows. They worked with other groups to help save Tinicum Marsh in Southwest Philadelphia, which is now a national environmental center. They held plant sales in May and Christmas tree sales in December. The club joined the Garden Club Federation of Pennsylvania in l960, and participated in state and national activities, winning numerous “laurels” in the process.

But as the 1980’s began, the club’s pace slowed down as many members moved away or passed away, and those remaining got older and less active. The clubs’s focus gradually narrowed to the Locust street garden, which was ably maintained by W. Stanley Woodward, a retired engineer who began working in the garden in 1965.

By 1984, Mr. Woodward, near 90, was unable to keep working in the garden. Luckily, his young assistant, Adam Levine, agreed to take over, and since 1985 he has added many plants to the garden.

In l985, Joseph Moloznik became president of the club, and he helped revive the group. Trees were once again planted during annual Arbor Day celebrations, and bulbs and flowers livened up SEPTA’s 40th street portal. Wreathmaking and holiday decorating workshops were attended, and programs were held with the children from the Home of the Merciful Savior, and with numerous other neighborhood and city organizations. On June 17, 1989, on the occaision of the thirtieth anniversary of the Spruce Hill Garden Club, Mayor W. Wilson Goode presented a proclamation in tribute to the work of the Spruce Hill Garden Club.

The club, as it did in its early years, again plays an active role in community affairs. The l990’s see us planting street trees, teaching youth gardening, organizing garden tours in University City, undertaking civic beautification efforts (like the perennial plantings at The Woodlands Cemetery), as well as recognizing efforts of community members with an annual “Commendations” ceremony.

The club has a reference library with 90 volumes and a computerized catalog. Plant sales are held in May and for the holidays in December. All of the proceeds fund work in our garden and our other civic beautification projects like Baltimore Avenue in Bloom.

In the spring and summer of 2004 a revitalization of the 44th and Locust street garden was undertaken and the garden was entered into the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society's City Gardens Contest where it placed third for mid-sized community flower garden (quite an honor). Baltimore Avenue in Bloom plantings on Woodland Avenue placed first.