Henry Shaw

Biography

Born in England and raised amid the industrial bustle of Sheffield, Henry Shaw made his home in St. Louis after emigrating to the United States and became a passionate collector of plants and an avid amateur botanist. He founded the Missouri Botanical Garden in 1859, seeing it as a place where citizens could study and admire the richness of the natural world while the city itself cultivated a more refined civic life.

Shaw dedicated his fortune to building public institutions, from libraries to parks, and he shaped the Garden with carefully planned landscapes, a herbarium, and specimen houses that would inspire generations of scientists and gardeners. Even after his death, the garden remained a living tribute to his belief in the power of nature education and public generosity.