In 1902, the first Farm Garden was opened to provide city children the invaluable experience of cultivating and caring for the land. Its founder said of her creation: "I assure you that all the virtues can be taught from a little patch of ground, not eight feet square." Read on to learn of this history and legacy of New York's Farm Gardens.

De Witt Farm School was a three-quarter-acre "Farm Garden," whose 360 plots covered a portion of De Witt Clinton Park. The Farm School, whose pupils were both boys and girls of ages nine through twelve, grew crops of corn, beets, beans, turnips, lettuce, spinach, cabbage, celery, and radishes. In the farmhouse, "home-ec" like courses were taught to girls while boys learned outdoor chores. Though chores were gendered, boys and girls joined together to learn how to cook their harvest. This "farm garden" was opened by Frances Griscom Parsons in 1902. Parsons was a mother of seven. She considered farming a crucial component of a child's education. To instill these values in her own, she would take them to the country to learn the ways of the farm. However, Parsons was conscious that the luxury of a countryside home was not available to all New York children, thus she developed the "Farm Garden:" a vital educational tool and a piece of the countryside all city children could access. Her first Farm Garden was located adjacent to tenement apartments in what is now Hell's Kitchen. The program gained success quickly, and, in 1903, Parks Commissioner William R. Willcox said, "Older persons who live thereabout declare they can see a decided difference in the courtesy and general conduct of youngsters since the plan was first adopted." Parsons believed that kids who were kept busy were kept out of trouble. Not only did the program keep youngsters occupied, but it also beautified the park which hosted Farm Gardens. Unfortunately, the construction of the West Side Highway led to the De Witt Clinton Park's closure in 1932. Other Farm Gardens based on Parsons' model in Harlem, the Lower East Side, Williamsburg, and Brownsville carried on the legacy of the De Witt Farm Garden.