Rockefeller Center and its famous decorated Christmas tree is a popular New York City tourist attraction during the holiday season. This yearly tradition began in 1931 when workers building Rockefeller Center erected a tree and decorated it with paper, cranberries and tin cans; appropriate decorations for the Depression years.

It is interesting to note that the land where Rockefeller Center was built was the site of the first botanical garden in the United States. In 1801 Elgin Botanical Garden was established on 19 3/4 acres of land purchased by Dr. David Hosack from the City of New York. It extended from present day 47th street on the south, 51st street on the north, and 5th avenue on the east and 6th avenue on the west. Dr. Hosack’s intention was to cultivate medicinal plants which he collected from all over the world.

From the Durst Old York Collection, Baruch College CUNY

This was an expensive venture and by 1810 he could no longer fund the garden and was forced to sell the land to the State of New York. In 1814 it passed to Columbia University with the intention that it would be used by the College of Physicians and Surgeons. Again financing became an issue and Columbia abandoned the garden.

From the Durst Old York Collection, Baruch College CUNY

As the city moved north, stately homes were built on the land, but New York neighborhoods change rapidly, and rooming houses and questionable business establishments took over the area.

From the Durst Old York Collection, Baruch College CUNY

It was not until 1930 that the Elgin Garden site was to take on a new life with the building of Rockefeller Center. On the fifth avenue entrance to Rockefeller Center, Hosack’s Elgin Garden is honored with the planting of the Channel Gardens. One of the planters pays homage to the memory of Hosack “a citizen of the world.” From this location at Christmas time one can see the Christmas tree lighting up the site where Dr. David Hosack envisioned a garden with plants that would heal the citizenry of the City of New York. Dr. Hosack could not have foreseen that over 200 years later this site would be a symbol to the public of the joys of the holiday.

For more information about Dr. Hosack and the Elgin Gardens see:

Johnson, Victoria. American Eden: David Hosack botany, and medicine in the garden of the early republic. New York: Liveright Publishing Company, 2018.