Lombard Garden Club celebrating 90 years
Lombard Garden Club is celebrating its 90th anniversary this year with events that include recognizing outstanding front yard landscaping of Lombard residents and a luncheon April 22.
The luncheon begins with a social time at 11:30 a.m. in the Le Jardin restaurant in the Visitors Center at Cantigny Park, 1S151 Winfield Road, Wheaton. Lunch is served at noon and a program is presented by Mike Novak, gardener, environmentalist, and host of his own radio show at 1 p.m. daily on GDGD Radio Network.
A proclamation of the Lombard Village Board recognizing the club will be read at the luncheon.
Organized in May 28, 1926, the Lombard Garden Club was first known by the name Lombard Flower and Garden Club. Nora Wegner was the club's first president, elected at the first meeting in the home of Mrs. Jacob Brecke.
In 1927, the Garden Clubs of Illinois was formed and the Lombard Garden Club became an early member.
The club moved several times during its first 30 years until monthly meetings were eventually held at the Community Building at the Lombard Commons. The club still meets at this location at 1 p.m. on the fourth Friday of the month.
Throughout the early years of the organization, the women raised money for civic improvements and supported the Lincoln Memorial Garden project in Springfield.
Among the civic projects they completed are supplying and caring for plantings in Lilacia Park, at the Helen Plum Library and at the two railroad stations in Lombard; beautifying the Lombard Village Hall grounds with a flagpole with name plate and a drinking fountain; and sponsoring successful lilac bush sales every May. The club also donated money for the Lincoln Memorial Garden that paid for the construction of a bridge as well as wild flower plantings. All that work was completed by 1939.
Along with these fundraising activities, Lombard Garden Club members entered the National Flower Show in Chicago and other local and state shows. Summer garden walks, winter house walks, craft projects and speakers have been part of their annual activities.
The Lombard schools have benefited from the garden club's attention, with scholarships given to Glenbard East High School students. Cash donations also haven been given to the Lombard Historical Society, the Helen Plum Library, Lombard Park District and Maple Street Chapel.
In recent years, the club has donated hundreds of daffodils to outline the Lombard Cemetery and contributed to the landscaping at the Peck Homestead and Maple Street Chapel. A Butterfly Garden is maintained in Lilacia Park, as well as Monarch Way Stations in other parks. The club has participated in Lombard's Prairie Days through the years.
The proclamation recognizing the club will be read at the April 7 Lombard village board meeting. A display on the club will be on view in the Helen Plum Library beginning in March. Front yard gardens will be judged throughout the summer. The club also will be a featured unit in the Lombard Lilac Day Parade.
For more information on the club's 90th anniversary celebration, call (630) 620-7517 or write cbward200@gmail.com.