page_title: Oregon Garden
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Oregon Garden / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Slate stairway and ornate handrails with the NW garden within Oregon Garden, Oregon, United States.
context_page_description: The Oregon Garden is an 80-acre botanical garden and tourist attraction in Silverton, Oregon, United States. Opened in 1999, it is home to over 20 gardens including the Rose Garden, Children's Garden and Silverton Market Garden. It is open 365 days a year and hosts both public and private events. The land is also home to the Gordon House, Oregon's only Frank Lloyd Wright home, and The Oregon Garden Resort.
context_section_description: The Oregon Association of Nurseries first conceived the idea of a public showcase garden in the 1940s. Work towards the creation of such a garden began in earnest around 1990, when the OAN began seeking a location for their project. Around that same time, the City of Silverton was searching for a way to use their reclaimed wastewater. These serendipitous situations lead Silverton to purchase the land south of downtown and dedicate it to the future garden in 1995. As a result, Silverton's wastewater is filtered through a series of terraced wetlands located in the garden, collected in a holding tank and used to meet all of the garden's irrigation needs. In April 1996, a master plan was created for the garden which includes ultimately developing all 240 acres (0.97 km²) of the site. The groundbreaking ceremony occurred June 27, 1997 and featured high-ranking Oregon politicians.  The garden opened to the public during a dedication on April 17, 1999. Attendance at the garden totaled 250,000 visitors the first year. Subsequent ceremonies dedicated additional features such as the Gordon House on March 2, 2002, and the Rediscovery Forest and Natural Resources Center on June 7, 2002.
  In 2002, the water garden won an award from the American Society of Landscape Architects for environmental friendliness.
caption: The "Northwest Garden" within the Oregon Garden
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