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A History of Community Gardens

New York City has the largest network of community gardens in the United States.

Community gardens borrow from earlier urban-gardening movements, such as Frannie Griscolm Parsons' educational "Farm-Gardens" of the early 20th-century and Depression-era "subsistence gardens" which provided for communities across the city. Beginning in the 1960s, New Yorkers increasingly favored progressive government programs and looked towards the city to sponsor many past-due revitalization efforts for neighborhoods. One such effort was community gardens, which beautified abandoned lots and, most importantly, allowed the community to have an active say in the design of their urban environment.

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Urban Archive

1

620 East 6th Street

620 East 6th Street

A majority of the city's community gardens were first organized in the 1970s. The first of these collective endeavors was spearheaded by Lower East Side Resident Liz Christy in 1973. Christy was a member of the "Green Guerrillas," a rag-tag team of planters, gardeners, and advocates who were armed with "seed bombs," filled with fertilizer, seeds, and water. The group looked to turn vacant lots and leftover slivers of land overgrown with weeds and filled with debris into vibrant community spaces.

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299 Bowery

299 Bowery

Christy opened the first community garden on this corner of Bowery and Houston Street. Volunteers cleared the land of trash, cultivated the soil, and eventually planted trees, built planter beds, and fencing around the area. Recognizing the "Green Guerillas" actions as part of neighborhood revitalization, the New York City Office of Housing, Preservation, and Development (HDC) allowed the community to lease the garden for just one dollar per month. The garden, which still stands, is named for Christy.

3

St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery

St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery

The first city-wide conference on "community greening" took place here, at the St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery in April of 1975. The event was co-sponsored by the Green Guerillas and the New York Botanical Garden. Posters outside the church had messages encouraging New York to "Turn a Lot into a Spot," or find "Space to Grow In." With the conference, Christy aimed to find a collective consciousness amongst community gardeners across the city. To the New York Times, Christy said, "with a broad base, you will have less trouble with vandalism, and you will get a lot more money and cooperation."

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76 Greenwich Avenue

76 Greenwich Avenue

Some of the gardens established in the 70s were lost as developers sought after the "empty" land once leases ran out in the 1980s. However, various groups continue to maintain and advocate for community gardens. The lot pictured here was used as a community garden and greening-recycling center for many years. It was dedicated a NYC AIDS Memorial Park in 2016.

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6th Street and Avenue B Community Garden

6th Street and Avenue B Community Garden

The 6 and B Community Garden, pictured here, was once a lot abandoned by vacant buildings. After nearly a decade of use as a shooting gallery, the land was finally cleared in 1982 after the 6th Street A-B Block Association petitioned Operation Green Thumb, the city's community gardening program, to lease the land. Debris was then hauled off the site, allowing for the installation of 125 plots for gardening, walkways, shrubs, and trees. The garden now features a characteristic fence called "The Wave," which was installed in 1997.

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194 East 2nd Street

194 East 2nd Street

This sprawling installation was also a community garden until 1997 when an apartment building was built on this lot. Though some gardens have been lost to development, around 550 community gardens remain across the five boroughs.

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