Dr. David Hosack was known as the doctor who was present at the duel between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr in New Jersey in 1804. Yet it was his passionate advocacy for the nation’s first botanical garden that was Hosack’s greatest legacy. He realized that the United States would remain a backwater without a facility to grow and test medicinal plants. As a result, his garden on Fifth Avenue and his conservatory (which lies under Radio City Music Hall) were full of thousands of species both native and exotic. Victoria Johnson will transport us to the time when Manhattan was covered with farms and forests and reveal the incredible lengths to which the larger-than-life Hosack went to realize his dream.
Professor Johnson is an associate professor of urban policy and planning at Hunter College in New York City, where she lectures on the history of philanthropy and New York City.