Under NPS management, public programs like this one in 1952 attracted visitors to tour the ponds. Even before becoming a national park, the Shaw Gardens had become a leading destination for some of Washington’s most prominent elected officials including Presidents Calvin Coolidge and Woodrow Wilson.
NPS Photo/Abbie Rowe (MRCE 1537-B)
Fowler fought to save her business and her father’s legacy. In 1938, the USACE purchased the land. Recognizing the natural and cultural value of the site, the management of the property was given to the National Park Service in 1939. Fowler’s large scale cultivation of flowers for sale ended, and the site became a new attraction for residents and visitors to the nation’s capital.
In the 1960s, the National Park Service recognized the neighboring marsh as a unique spot on the Anacostia that still had natural integrity, protected other areas from tidal flooding, and provided an important habitat for birds and wildlife. Instead of changing the historic landscape and natural marsh area, a policy of preservation and restoration was implemented. Today a boardwalk allows visitors to cross from the cultivated gardens to the wilder marsh landscape of Kenilworth Park.
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