Hyattsville Horticultural Society scrapbooks

H. M. Connelly, V. K. Chestnut, W. B. Ballard, and J. B. S. Norton founded the Hyattsville Horticultural Society, on the oldest garden clubs in America, during the winter of 1916-1917. J. B. S. Norton was a professor of botany and vegetable pathology at the University of Maryland for more than forty years. W. B. Ballard served the University in a number of capacities, as a pomologist at the Maryland Experiment State at the time of the Society's organization, and later as head of the Landscape Department. Dr. Chestnut served as the society's first president, and the founders rotated in this office for a number of years. Little else is known about the group's initial activities because the early minutes were lost during a flood. This organization of amateurs brought together people interested in horticulture and floriculture and organized a number of community beautification projects, including annual flower and garden shows. The members, limited to fifteen at the society's inception, met in each other's homes; wives served refreshments but were not initially permitted to become members. The Hyattsville Horticultural Society admitted Mrs. Mills O'Keefe, its first female member, by January 1921. The Hyattsville Horticultural Society has been and continues to be involved in a number of activities in the local community. The society held its first garden show in 1917, and the group annually organized a garden competition, a home and garden exhibition, spring and fall garden shows, children's competitions, and a number of social events and programs. The Hyattsville Horticultural Society continued to grow and eventually revised its constitution to allow an unlimited number of members, with each new membership dependent upon the unanimous approval of the other members of the Society. Although the Society maintains a lower profile today, its members remain active in the Hyattsville community.