GBG History

In 1991, the demonstration flower garden at the UAF Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station became the Georgeson Botanical Garden. The garden continues to be a valuable source of information on suitable varieties of annual flowers and vegetables for commercial growers and home gardeners, and a major attraction for visitors. Today, the garden is being expanded to address its new mission as a center for education and research in subarctic horticulture.

The Georgeson Botanical Garden began as the horticultural demonstration garden, and transitioned from an annual flower and vegetable garden to the present landscaped botanical garden. Despite the fairly recent changes, the Georgeson Botanical Garden continues a tradition that was begun during the gold rush era. In 1905, the citizens of the Fairbanks area petitioned the Secretary of Agriculture to establish an experiment station somewhere in the Tanana Valley. At that time, 82 homesteads were registered in the valley. In August of that year, Charles Georgeson, director of Alaska Agricultural Experiment Stations, explored the Tanana Valley for possible station sites. With a considerable amount of persuasion from members of the Fairbanks Chamber of Commerce, Georgeson selected 1,393.97 acres that were located nearly midway between Chena and Fairbanks. The land adjoined the junction of the old narrow gauge Tanana Mines Railroad that ran between Chena, 4.98 miles to the south; Fairbanks, 4.27 miles to the east; and the gold fields 20 miles to the northwest. The land was chosen because of its size and proximity to this transportation corridor as well as the availability of good soils for farming and its close proximity to the homesteaders. (1905 News Article)

Early work at the experiment station emphasized cultivation of grains, grasses and potatoes, but there were always plots of vegetables, flowers, fruits and landscape ornamentals available for public viewing. From the beginning the purpose of the station was to learn which crops would grow best, to develop techniques for crop production, and to share that knowledge with local residents. That tradition has continued without interruption since 1906.

In the 1970s the horticulturist in charge of the demonstration gardens was Dr. Donald Dinkel. He experimented with everything from artichokes to zucchini and pioneered the use of polyethylene mulches for vegetable production. In the early 1970s, he added to the already considerable cultivar trials to include more annual flowers. The colorful demonstration flower garden attracted considerable local interest, and as the tourism industry expanded during the pipeline construction boom, the garden became a focal point for Fairbanks visitors.

Through the 1980s the garden increased in popularity, and today more than 30,000 visitors enjoy the gardens each summer. The transition from demonstration garden to botanical garden occurred, in part, to accommodate the increased public use. However, the most important reason was to improve the way we continue our 98-year-old tradition of experimenting with horticultural crops, developing new cultivation techniques and sharing that information with all Alaskans.

Dr. Charles Christian Georgeson

Dr. Charles Christian Georgeson established Alaska's system of agricultural experiment stations. The Secretary of the Department of Agriculture instructed him, at age 47, to go to Alaska and "Act as if the country is your own and go ahead."

Georgeson did.

In 1898, he started his mission with his first station in Sitka, then Alaska's capital. In rapid succession, he opened experiment stations in Kenai, Rampart, Copper Center, Kodiak and Fairbanks. All were up and running by 1907. The seventh and final station, Matanuska, began operations in 1917. Today just Fairbanks and Matanuska (renamed Palmer) continue researching Alaska's agricultural potential.

When not opening research stations, Georgeson developed fruit and vegetable varieties for the Great Land including strawberries, wheat, peas and a beardless barley. All grew rapidly and matured early to meet the needs of Alaska's short, but productive growing season.

He continued to promote Alaska after his retirement.

Georgeson loved his adopted lands--both of them, the United States and its stepchild, the Territory of Alaska. A native of Denmark, he moved to the United States in 1873 to study at Michigan State University. There he earned one of the schools' first doctorates.

We're proud to name these gardens in honor of this Alaska agricultural pioneer.

Georgeson is Looking For Farm For Experimental Station Along Line of New Railroad

Professor C.C. Georgeson, accompanied by Fred I. E. Rader, passed the day between Chena looking for land for an experiment station.

Mr. Georgeson has been kept busy since coming to town. Yesterday he and his companion secured horses and visited many of the homesteads surrounding Fairbanks and made notes of the soil and native vegetation.

Owing to the large number of homesteads close to this place he thought it would be difficult to get enough land for as large a tract as he desired and he was think some of trying to locate it up the Tanana river near the Delta district. Members of the Chamber of Commerce and others, however, used their influence to have him inspect the country between here and Chena. It is believed he can secure a piece of ground large enough for all practical purposes, and it will be much more valuable to the government and to the people for whose benefit it is intended. In fact all of the homesteads are located within a close radius of the two towns, while there is not more than one or two in the Delta district at present, and these were located mostly for town site purposes.

Near Fairbanks, on the other hand, are many cultivated farms and the people in charge of them badly need assistance which should be given them from an experimental station. Then, too, such a place near this town will be more central for the Tanana Valley than any place that could be found.

Of course, the present purpose of the government officials is to reserve the land. The placing of a station upon it will depend entirely upon congress next year, whether an appropriation is made sufficient to cover the cost.

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This page was last modified on August 23, 2008 by GBG web editor