University Gardens, Texas Woman's University

The chapel beside the gardens was a Depression project. President Louis H. Hubbard obtained $15,000 from the W. R. Nicholson family of Longview, and a 1938 design competition chose O'Neil Ford and Arch Swank. National Youth Administration trainees and Civilian Conservation Corps crews, who split local stone into slabs, did the building. Two graduate students made the stained glass and light fixtures as thesis projects, and about 500 students helped in all, according to the Handbook of Texas. Eleanor Roosevelt gave the principal address at the dedication on November 1, 1939.

What the plaque says

University Gardens, Texas Woman's University The original Rock Garden and native botanical area at this site was established in the 1930s by the Exterior Beautification Committee of Texas State College for Women, now Texas Woman's University. Members of the committee were Willie Isabella Birge, director of the Department of Biology, Fred Westcourt, director of the Department of Rural Arts and Mary Marshall, director of the Department of Art. The gardens were planned and landscaped to display a diverse collection of plants from Texas and other areas. Paths and retaining walls were constructed of native stone. The adjacent chapel in the woods was added in 1938. A focal point of the campus for many years, the gardens were neglected following World War II and they became overgrown. In the late 1970s, through a cooperative effort of university officials and local residents, the area was restored. The University Gardens are now a sanctuary for the preservation of native Texas wildflowers. The site serves as an educational laboratory for students, as a trail garden for plants used in campus landscaping and as a place of serenity and relaxation. (1982)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Denton County Courthouse-on-the-Square — 1.0 mi
  An 1896 courthouse by W. C. Dodson in Denton limestone, pink granite and two sandstones, restored in 2004, now a free county museum on a lawn holding the grave of John B. Denton.
• Wise County Courthouse — 27 mi
  J. Riely Gordon's granite Romanesque courthouse of 1895-96 in Decatur, built after fire destroyed the Second Empire courthouse and set off a fight over the county seat.

More markers nearby

• The First Building of Texas Woman's University — 0.3 mi
• Ford, O'Neil — 0.7 mi
• Quakertown — 0.8 mi
• Texas Normal College — 1.0 mi