Historical Marker · No. 764

Kate Olivia Sessions' Nursery Site

San Diego, San Diego County · California
Erected by California State Park Commission in cooperation with the Pacific Beach Woman's Club, July 7, 1961

In 1892 the city leased Kate Sessions thirty acres of scrub in what was then City Park and set her rent in trees: a hundred planted in the park every year, and three hundred more for the rest of San Diego. That bargain is most of the reason Balboa Park is a forest. She moved her nursery out here to Pacific Beach afterward. The bronze credits her with a medal in genetics, but the Frank N. Meyer Medal she took in 1939 is awarded for plant introduction.

What the plaque says

Kate Olivia Sessions' Nursery Site 1857 - 1940 This plaque commemorates the life and influence of a woman who envisioned San Diego beautiful. On this site she operated a nursery and gained world renown as a horticulturist. She was the first woman to receive the International Meyer Medal in genetics. California Registered Historical Landmark No. 764 Plaque placed by the California State Park Commission in cooperation with the Pacific Beach Woman's Club. July 7, 1961

Where it stands

32.80542, -117.22295 · Directions

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