The Linnaean Botanic Garden or Prince's Nursery was a nursery and gardens in

Flushing, Queens Flushing is a neighborhood in the north-central portion of the New York City Borough (New York City), borough of Queens. The neighborhood is the fourth-largest central business district in New York City. Downtown Flushing is a major commercial ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

(now part of

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

), started in the mid-18th century by the Prince family.The New-York Annual Register for 1833
p. 239 (1833)(24 July 1822)
Enchanting Garden
''Adams Centinel'' The establishment was one of the first commercial nurseries in the country, and was in operation about 130 years until the property was sold after 1869.(22 April 2004)
Discovering history at Flushing's Botanical Garden
''QNS''

History

Robert Prince and his son William started the Prince family nursery in the 1730s (with 1737 an often cited date)Totemeier, Carl (20 February 1977)

''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' on eight acres. It soon was the biggest provider of fruit trees and grapes in the colonies.Encounters with America's Premier Nursery and Botanic Garden
Monticello.org This first William Prince was the first to cultivate pecan trees for sale, starting in 1772.
Smithsonian Libraries, Retrieved 30 June 2022 An advertisement running on September 21, 1767 stated:

For sale at William Prince's nursery, Flushing, a great variety of fruit trees, such as apple, plum, peach, nectarine, cherry, apricot and pear. They may be put up so as to be sent to Europe. Capt. Jeremiah Mitchell and Daniel Clements go to New York in packet boats Tuesdays and Fridays

Though Long Island came under British rule during the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

, the British protected it due to the value of the operation. Around 1793, William Prince (grandson of Robert and son of William) added to the family acreage and renamed this tract as the Linnaean Botanic Garden and Nursery, named after

Carolus Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...

, who formalised

binomial nomenclature In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin grammatical forms, altho ...

, the modern system of naming organisms. This William's brother, Benjamin, called the original family nursery plot "The Old American Nursery." The second William's son

William Robert Prince William Robert Prince (November 6, 1795 in Flushing, New York – March 28, 1869 in Flushing) was a United States horticulture pioneer. Biography He was the son of horticulturist William Prince and Mary Stratton. He was educated at Jamaica Acad ...

was the fourth and last Prince generation to run the gardens. When he died in 1869 the nursery shut down, though many of their unusual plants lived much longer. The first four Presidents of the United States all visited the establishment.

George Washington George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...

first visited the nursery in October 1789 with

John Adams John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Before Presidency of John Adams, his presidency, he was a leader of ...

, when the United States capital was still in New York City. Washington wasn't impressed on his first visit, but his opinion bettered over time.(10 October 1789).
George Washington Diary Entry
National Archives ("These Gardens except in the number of young fruit Trees did not answer my expectations—The shrubs were trifling and the flowers not numerous. The Inhabitants of this place shewed us what respect they could, by making the best use of one Cannon to salute.")

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (, 1743July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was the primary author of the United States Declaration of Indepe ...

and

James Madison James Madison (June 28, 1836) was an American statesman, diplomat, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the fourth president of the United States from 1809 to 1817. Madison was popularly acclaimed as the ...

visited in 1791, with Jefferson placing a large order for his home at

Monticello Monticello ( ) was the primary residence and plantation of Thomas Jefferson, a Founding Father, author of the Declaration of Independence, and the third president of the United States. Jefferson began designing Monticello after inheriting l ...

. Prince Street in Flushing is named for the Prince family; the gardens were in the vicinity of that street and Broadway/Bridge Street (now

Northern Boulevard New York State Route 25A (NY 25A) is a state highway on Long Island in New York (state), New York, United States. It serves as the main east–west route for most of the North Shore (Long Island), North Shore of Long Island, running ...

).Driscoll, James
Flushing: 1880-1935
(2005), p. 17-21 (discussing the nursery), p. 27 (noting that Northern Boulevard was originally called Broadway, with the section west of Main Street becoming known as Bridge Street after William Prince built a bridge over Flushing Creek in 1800)Fox, Marglit and George Robinson (17 August 2003)
Pedigree in Pruning
''

'' (says location was south of Northern Blvd, but that seems to apply to one some of the property prior to expansion)

References

External links

Catalogue of American indigenous trees, plants, and seeds, cultivated and for sale at the Linnaean botanic garden, Flushing, Long Island, near New York
(1820) {{Coord, 40, 45, 54, N, 73, 50, 00, W, display=title Botanical gardens in New York City 1869 disestablishments in New York (state) Flushing, Queens