Insect Orders
The Rose Garden Pond
History of the Rose Garden Pond
In 1913 several farms were bought by Henry and Clara Ford. Clara Ford wished to have a massive Rose Garden. Between 1914 and 1920 a world famous Rose Garden was built. It was so large it took 20 gardeners to upkeep. The Rose Garden is a Historic Landmark to this day. It also contained a system of inter-connected reflecting pools, a large gazebo, and a purgula.
Around the 1960's, 320 acres of the Henry Ford Estate were donated to the University of Michigan, this became the campus of the University of Michigan Dearborn. 72 of those acres were put aside for environmental and historical study and interpretation. The Rose Garden Pond was no longer maintained as a reflecting pool and began to be colonized by plants and animals.
Today, even though most of the roses are gone, they have been replaced by a menagerie of beautiful native wildlife, and the Rose Garden Pond is used as a tool for interpretation for several thousands of school children a year by the Environmental Interpretive Center located on campus.