Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden and Bird Sanctuary (Minneapolis, Minn.), creator.

The Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden and Bird Sanctuary, located in Theodore Wirth Park (first known as Saratoga Park (1889-1890) and later as Glenwood Park (1890-1938)) in Minneapolis, Minnesota, was founded in 1907. Known at that time as the Minneapolis Wild Botanic Garden, the preserve was the culmination of the efforts of four high school botany teachers who, concerned with the impact of the growing city on nature, wished to create a resource through which they could give their students the opportunity to make first hand observations of the native flora of the region. Foremost among these instructors was Eloise Butler, a teacher in the Minneapolis schools since 1874. In 1911 Butler became the garden's first curator with a salary of $50.00 per month, paid jointly by the Minneapolis Park Board and the Minneapolis Woman's Club.

The first of its kind in the country, Butler's garden project was different because it was wild. Rather than creating traditional flower beds, carefully cultivating and pruning, Butler intended to interfere as little as possible with the plants. She tried to provide for them an environment as close as possible to that from which each came. In addition the garden was to host only the native flora of Minnesota. The unique garden soon became the object of many school field trips, girl and boy scout outings, and the like. In 1949 the garden's annual report recorded 43,000 visitors. By 1966 that number had increased to 150,000, including 71 elementary school classes and 24 high school, adult, and non-academic children's groups.

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