Mapping the Oasis Garden Club, 1954-1967

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Vacant Lot Garden. Kater Street (1900 Block) [1956] Oasis Garden Club. Louise Bush-Brown Image Collection. McLean Library and Archives. Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Under the leadership of Elizabeth J. Forrester, director of Women’s and Girls’ program at Western Community House, 1613 South Street, the Oasis Garden Club was organized in February 1954. At its height, the Club's African-American membership numbered more than 50 blocks and operated in roughly the area of Pine Street to Washington Avenue, and west of Broad Street to the Schuylkill River.

The Philadelphia Tribune began its regular coverage of the Oasis Garden Club seven months after the club's founding. Starting with three city blocks in South Philadelphia, 1700 Addison Street, 1900 Naudain Street, and 1600 Rodman Street, the Club quickly transitioned from the modest effort of window boxes and sidewalk planters to clearing vacant lots for gardens and play areas for the neighborhood children. 

…The interest in flowers has acquainted neighbors, who have been living in the same block for years without knowing each other. It has, also, inspired home renovations and block improvement.

Two fragrant flower gardens have been planted in former trash filled vacant lots in the 1500 block of Rodman St., and 1900 block of Naudain St.

Small children, living in those blocks, enjoy games and stories in their gardens under the guidance of block mothers. … -- August 10, 1954, Philadelphia Tribune.

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Vacant Lot Garden. Naudain Street (2100 Block) [1959] Oasis Garden Club. Louise Bush-Brown Image Collection. McLean Library and Archives. Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

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Montrose Street (2200 Block) [1959] Oasis Garden Club. Louise Bush-Brown Image Collection. McLean Library and Archives. Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Elizabeth J. Forrester and the Oasis Garden Club

" ... It's known as the Oasis Garden Club and just about everybody for blocks around belongs. Under normal circumstances, young people in the neighborhood went to the [Western] settlement house to watch tv, play the piano, or bake cookies. But under Operation Oasis, Forrester had teen-agers fashioning flower boxes from discarded lumber, while 7- and 8-year-olds hauled soil to the center in their wagons. Grandparents and grandchildren worked together, Forrester told the writer, planting cuttings donated by the Germantown Garden Club. A "pretty box garden" became a South Street status symbol, making the drab old windows along the street suddenly spring to life.

Forrester credited her grandfather's love of gardening with the success of the Oasis Garden Club. "My thoughts often travel back to Virginia, to my grandfather, and to myself as a little girl. ... I remember his teaching me to garden properly. And the way he would shake his head disapprovingly when I poked a finger down into the ground to see if a seed had germinated. Seeds, like people, need time to fully develop, her grandfather said. "Remember, honey, seeds like to wait for a gentle gardener," he told her. ..." -- Frank Dougherty. "Elizabeth J. Forrester, Community Leader, 75." Philadelphia Daily News, 13 June 1991

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Mrs. Horace Johnson and Elizabeth J. Forrester, January 1958. Photo caption: "Sponsored by the House, the Oasis Garden Club promotes neighborhood betterment by brightening the homes and drab streets, clearing vacant lots of debris, and transforming them into gardens and tot-lots. Here Mrs. Horace Johnson (left), 5636 Pine Street, and Mrs. John Forrester, 4051 Locust Street, do their part for the Western Community House, where Mrs. Forrester is program director and Mrs. Johnson is secretary."  Forrester founded the Oasis Garden Club and was the first Executive Director of the Neighborhood Garden Association. From the publicity files of the Western Community House, Philadelphia.

Forrester's life's work is documented in the Memorial Program, Saint Thomas' Episcopal Church in 1991:

"Elizabeth J. Forrester, [1916-1991], known as Bette to her friends and the wider community, was the eldest daughter of the late Louise Peyton and Arthur Johnson. Born in Staunton, Virginia at her mother's ancestral home, she grew up in Ardmore, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Staunton where she received her formal schooling through the teacher training level.

"For many years, Mrs. Forrester worked as a Social Worker in the Philadelphia area and was widely known during her ten year tenure as the first Executive Director of the Neighborhood Gardens Association, a community improvement project begun by the late Mrs. Louise Bush-Brown, the renown[ed] horticulturist and widely publicized through the beautification campaign of Mrs. Lady-Bird Johnson during President Johnson's White House years.

"Her efforts on behalf of her community were most strongly felt in her acts of Christian mission, through her involvement in the parish of Historic St. Thomas' Episcopal Church, and in the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania, where she served as the first African-American president of the Episcopal Church Women.

"Over the years, Mrs. Forrester served as a valued member of the Board of numerous charitable, health and educational organizations, including the Philadelphia Association of Settlements and Neighborhood Centers, the Planned Parenthood Association, Personnel Resources, Inc., the United Way of Pennsylvania and the Philadelphia Center for older people. For these efforts, she received many honorary awards and citations.

"In her retirement, Mrs. Forrester continued to devote her energies to the community. She instituted the Historical Society of St. Thomas' Church, the oldest Black Episcopal religious institution in America. She also remained a consultant for urban beautification programs and developed and implemented travel groups desired to enrich family unity."

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Naudain Street (2100 Block) [1959] Oasis Garden Club. Louise Bush-Brown Image Collection. McLean Library and Archives. Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

The Philadelphia Tribune covered not only the annual meeting of the Oasis Garden Club, but its sponsorship of Christmas workshops, the annual Flower Show, the formation of the Oasis Green Thumb 4-H Club, and summer activities in collaboration with the Thomas Durham School playground.

... Two South Philadelphia blocks, 2000 Ellsworth St., and 2100 Kater St., recently were awarded top honors at the first annual dinner meeting of the Neighborhood Garden Association of Philadelphia.

The dinner meeting was held at the Marian Anderson Center, 17th and Fitzwater sts., with the Oasis Garden Club members of the Western Community House, 1613 South St., acting as hosts.

... Mrs. Anna Baker, 2020 Ellsworth St., and Mrs. Betty Maston, 2138 Kater St., received awards ... -- December 4, 1954. Philadelphia Tribune.

... Oasis Garden Club Fetes Kiddies: Happy youngsters ... were treated to refreshments Friday at Durham School playground, 16th and Lombard sts., by members of the Green Thumb Oasis Garden Club, of the 1600 block of Naudain St.  Mrs. Anne M. Spencer; Mrs. Sarah Mack, block leader, and Mrs. Lula Cabral served the goodies. Other officers and members are: Robert Mack, chairman; Mrs. Mary Dyson, president; Mrs. Paula Cook, secretary; Mrs. Laura Hayes, treasurer; Mesdames Catherine Brown, Mamie Henderson, Mary Peters, Edith White, Florence McCullum, Maria Johnson and Myrtle Royster. The group has been very active promoting civic pride in the neighborhood. ... -- August 7, 1956. Philadelphia Tribune.

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Kater Street (2100 Block) [1955] Oasis Garden Club. Louise Bush-Brown Image Collection. McLean Library and Archives. Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

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Ellsworth Street (2100 or 2200 Block) [1956] Oasis Garden Club. Louise Bush-Brown Image Collection. McLean Library and Archives. Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

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Addison Street (1800 Block) [1955] Oasis Garden Club. Louise Bush-Brown Image Collection. McLean Library and Archives. Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

... Among the girls and boys recently initiated as "Green Thumb" Junior Gardeners at the Western Community House, 1613 South St., were Roselle Green, Harriet Green, Cynthia Haynes, Phyllis Hamilton, Sharon Wilkens, Marion Green, Ellen Green, Delores Perry, Cornell Green, Charlotte Preston, Fred Williamson, Charles Durbin, Ethel Mae Green, Gerald Smith, Oliver Smith, Richard Cunningham, Darryl Byrd, Samuel Smalls Jr., Arthur Smith, Shirley Halliday, Tyrone Gordon, Wendy Halliday, Nathaniel Halliday, Reginald Williamson, Alice Williamson and Theodore Green. ... The Green Thumb Junior Gardeners were organized recently by Mrs. Elizabeth J. Forrester, program director of Western Community House and secretary of the Neighborhood Garden Association of Philadelphia. It is the junior division of the Oasis Garden Club, a neighborhood improvement organization. ... -- September 24, 1957. Philadelphia Tribune.

... First Urban 4-H Club. Two years ago, the [Neighborhood Garden] Association in cooperation with the Pennsylvania State University Extension Service, organized a pilot 4-H Club, the first urban 4-H Club in the country to be devoted to gardening projects. This first club, the Oasis Green Thumb 4-H Club was so successful that 24 additional clubs have been organized, and last summer many a trash-filled vacant lot became a lovely 4-H Club garden. ... -- November 20, 1962. Philadelphia Tribune.

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Kater Street (1900 Block) Oasis Green Thumb 4-H Club. Oasis Garden Club. Louise Bush-Brown Image Collection. McLean Library and Archives. Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

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Philadelphia City Hall Courtyard. Oasis Green Thumb 4-H Club [1961] Oasis Garden Club. Louise Bush-Brown Image Collection. McLean Library and Archives. Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

... Rodman Garden Club Fetes Similar Groups. The "Secret Garden" in the 1500 block of Rodman Street was the scene of a lovely party Thursday evening, when members of the 1500 Rodman Oasis Garden Club played hosts to members of other Western Community House Oasis Garden blocks, and guests from the Friendly Garden Club of 1300 block So. 46th St.; the Calvary Settlement Garden Club and St. Martha's House Garden Club. ... The party was preceded by tours through the Oasis Garden Blocks where the visitors were greeted by Oasis members and shown lush blooming in vacant lot gardens, California-type hanging gardens, fragrant rose bays, unusual window box arrangements, newly-constructed tot-lots, and comfortable "sidewalk" chairs. ... Assisting Mrs. Mattie Burton, chairman of the 1500 Block Rodman were: Mrs. Alma Wilson, Mrs. Rebecca Bryant, Mrs. Helen Frank, Mrs. Jeanette Turner, Mrs. Nancy Longmire, Mrs. Frances Rogers, Miss Lucinda Turner, Mrs. Helen Smith, and Mrs. Green -- all of 1500 Rodman St. and Mrs. Lavinia McNeill of 2200 Carpenter; Mrs. Annie Mintess of 1700 Addison; Mrs. Gertrude Rogers of 1900 Kimball; Mrs. Marion Carey of 1800 Pemberton; Mrs. Allene Halliday of 1900 Kater; "Green Thumb" Junior Gardeners Margaret and Cornelius Watson, Cynthia Johnson, and Cynthia Hodges; and Mrs. Elizabeth J. Forrester, Western Community House staff advisor to the Oasis Garden Club. ... -- September 28, 1957. Philadelphia Tribune.

... Latona Street Residents Build Their Own Playlot. With the formal opening of "Latona Playland" last Saturday, the residents of the 2600 blk Latona st., demonstrated to the entire city what highly fruitful results can be achieved when a small group of citizens band themselves together for the betterment of their immediate block. ... The plot of ground on which two houses formerly stood had been used as a general refuse spot for two years until members of the block group to do something about the eyesore. ... The older men in the block, assisted by the larger boys started clearing-up and carting away the trash and debris. ... The Willing Workers Club of the 2600 blk. Latona st., is composed of approxiately 24 members who meet monthly the year 'round. ... -- Peyton Gray, Sr., Staff Writer. July 9, 1957. Philadelphia Tribune.

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Secret Garden. Rodman Street (1500 Block) [1954] Oasis Garden Club. Louise Bush-Brown Image Collection. McLean Library and Archives. Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

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Secret Garden. Foxgloves. Rodman Street (1500 Block) [1957] Oasis Garden Club. Louise Bush-Brown Image Collection. McLean Library and Archives. Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

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Latona Playland. Latona Street (2600 Block) [1957] Oasis Garden Club. Louise Bush-Brown Image Collection. McLean Library and Archives. Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

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Latona Playland. Latona Street (2600 Block) [1957] Oasis Garden Club. Louise Bush-Brown Image Collection. McLean Library and Archives. Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

About the Collection

The Oasis Garden Club images form part of the Louise Bush-Brown Neighborhood Garden Association Collection held by the McLean Library and Archives of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. The Neighborhood Garden Association of Philadelphia was founded in 1953 by noted horticulturist, activist, author and educator Louise Bush-Brown. In addition to the 120 images of the Oasis Garden Club garden blocks and vacant lot gardens, the collection depicts the earliest collaborative efforts of the Association, neighbors, garden clubs, and settlement houses who worked together to green and beautify neighborhoods and vacant lots throughout the City beginning with the first garden block on Mercy Street sponsored by St. Martha’s Settlement in Southeast Philadelphia and the now lost Ken-Watt Court a collaboration with the storied United Neighbors Association in 1953 to its partnership with the Penn State Extension to establish the first demonstration garden in the Mantua section of West Philadelphia in 1965. 

View the Oasis Garden Club images in the Louise Bush-Brown Collection

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Webster Street (1700 Block) [1959] Oasis Garden Club. Louise Bush-Brown Image Collection. McLean Library and Archives. Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Further Reading

Bush-Brown, Louise Carter. 1969. Garden blocks for urban America. N.Y.: Scribner.

Carner, Lucy Perkins. 1964. The settlement way in Philadelphia: the settlement movement in Philadelphia : a brief history from its beginnings in the nineteenth century to the founding of the Delaware Valley Settlement Alliance in 1963. [Philadelphia]: [Delaware Valley Settlement Alliance]

Historical Society of St. Thomas' Church. 1970-1991. Elizabeth J. Forrester Papers on Episcopalianism.

Lawson, Laura J. 2005. City bountiful a century of community gardening in America. Berkeley: University of California Press.

New York Public Library. Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division. 1955-2006. Anne Forrester Collection

Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. 1953-1995. Files of the Neighborhood Garden Association.

Philadelphia tribune. 1954-1967. Philadelphia, Pa: E. James & Co.

Temple University, Sheryl Dams Pendzich, Fredric Miller, and Peter Silverman. 1976. Housing Association of Delaware Valley: a guide to the collection. Philadelphia: Urban Archives Center, Temple University Libraries.

Wessel, Thomas R., and Marilyn Wessel. 1982. 4-H, an American idea, 1900-1980: a history of 4-H. Chevy Chase, Md. : National 4-H Council.

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Four Seasons Garden. Rodman Street (1600 Block) Oasis Garden Club. Louise Bush-Brown Image Collection. McLean Library and Archives. Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Generous support for this exhibition is provided by a National Endowment for the Humanities SHARP Grant

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Mapping the Oasis Garden Club, 1954-1967