Historic Hanscom Greenhouse Keeps Renewing

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Hanscom Park Greenhouses
“Welcome to Historic Field Club” is the sign that greets you as you enter Woolworth from South 36th Street. You will note that at the base of this sign are an array of beautiful blooms of annuals and perennials, and that these abound as you head east along the boulevard. At South 32nd Street, you will see the northwest entrance into Hanscom Park. This historic park and its greenhouses date back past 1890, and is filled with trees that date back even further than that.

Once you enter the park, you will find plenty of parking spaces, a gazebo, and a small and a large dog parks (the sign reads “Parking and Barking” with arrows pointing in the respective directions). At this point, you will also see the back and east sides of the three massive greenhouses. The 1913 tornado damaged the Joslyn greenhouse, and thus, some of the components were rehoused at Hanscom.

According to Larry Shupe, Hanscom greenhouse employee in a KETV interview, the greenhouse provides many living aspects for the community. In addition to providing 80,000+plants to about 300 city properties in the spring, such as parks, libraries and fire and police departments, they have provided sod for new ball fields. In the fall, those surviving plants are “uprooted and moved back into the greenhouse to survive the winter months in a warmer climate” (Doan, 2017).
Along with the amazing activities housed within the greenhouse, outside of the greenhouse, on the south side, you will find a large mural that decorates the otherwise “non-greenspace” concrete retaining wall. This wall houses an entrance into the bowels of the supply and equipment area for the greenhouse activities. Additionally, the 58-acre park includes a pavilion, indoor and outdoor public tennis courts, water park, fishing pond, picnic areas, ball fields, as well as a walking trail.