Meida
A Masterpiece in Process
Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park Historical Timeline 1990-2005
1990-1994
1990
The West Michigan Horticultural Society approaches Frederik Meijer about donating a parcel of land owned by Meijer Inc as a potential home for the Gardens.
January 1991
Meijer Inc offers 70.7 acres of land in Grand Rapids Township for the Gardens site. Frederik Meijer donates his collection of sculpture by celebrated American sculptor, Marshall Fredericks.
June 1992
A community campaign kicks off to raise $13.1 million to build the Gardens.
August 1993
Groundbreaking takes place. Construction begins immediately.
March 1994
The Michigan Botanic Garden is renamed Frederik Meijer Gardens after its major benefactor.
1995
April 20
Frederik Meijer Gardens opens to the public with the Lena Meijer Conservatory, a 15,000 square-foot glass house with tropical plants from five continents; the DeVos Family Gift Shop; the café; the Hoffman Family Auditorium; the Peter M. Wege Library; and the Hauenstein and Pfeiffer meeting rooms.
September 22
The Victorian Garden opens, re-creating a conservatory typically found in private homes of the late 1800s.
October 15
The Wege Nature Trial and Frey Boardwalk open.
November 17
The Gardener’s Corner Gift Shop opens, featuring plants, gardening tools, horticulture supplies and books.
November 23
Christmas Around the World debuts, the firs exhibit that will become a Gardens’ annual event. Created by community volunteers Starr Meijer and Meg Miller Willit, it features holiday trees and traditions from around the world.
1996
A sculpture advisory committee comprising of visual arts professionals, collectors, academics and Meijer Foundation counsel is appointed to oversee the building of a significant sculpture collection.
January 20
The Earl & Donnalee Holton Arid Garden opens. It comprises plants from arid climates of the world, including Africa and North, Central and South America.
February 14
Butterflies are Blooming debuts, the Gardens’ second exhibit to be held annually. 50,000 visitors flock to see thousands of tropical butterflies fly free in the Lena Meijer Conservatory.
September
The Jennifer C. Groot New American Garden opens, designed by internationally renown landscape designer James van Sweden
December
The Grace Jarecki Seasonal Display Greenhouse opens, featuring indoor seasonal displays of plants and flowers.
1997
September
The Leslie E. Tassell English Perennial & Bulb Garden opens, created by renowned English garden designers Penelope Hobhouse and James van Sweden
October
The sculpture collection grows to 84 works by internationally known artists.
1998
April
The Gardens kicks off a $12.8 million expansion campaign to include the addition of a boulevard entrance, a new multi purpose 800-seat auditorium, interior galleries for sculpture exhibitions, classrooms and additional parking.
June
The Gwen Frostic Woodland Shade Garden opens along the Wege Nature Trail. Dedicated to the popular Michigan Artist, it includes rhododendrons, azaleas and shade perennials.
1999
April 19
The gardens welcomes its one-millionth visitor, 8-year-old Adam Abbott of Wayland, Michigan.
July-August
Three significant sculptures are acquired and installed along a new one-half-mile-long sculpture trail that will become a footprint for the future Sculpture Park; Cabin Creek by Deborah Butterfield, Aria by Alexander Lieberman and Full Circle by Carolyn Ottmers.
October 7, 1999
The American Horse by Nina Akimu is unveiled in the DeVos Van Andel Piazza before an audience of 4,800 guests. The 24-foot-tall sculpture is Akamu’s homage to a never-completed design by Leonardo da Vinci.
2000
April
Eve, a major work by French master Auguste Rodin, is acquired. Later in 2000, the Gardens acquires sculpture by Antony Gormley, Dietrich Klinge, Jacques Lipchitz, Aristide Maillol, Henry Moore and Arnaldo Pomodoro.
September
The Phase II expansion opens, more than doubling the indoor space; increasing facility rental potential and providing new areas for sculpture exhibitions, gift shopping, guest dining, educational classes and improved visitor services. Two exhibitions premier in the new sculpture galleries, Richard Hunt: American Visionary and Imaging the Divine: Religious and Spiritual Themes of Marshall Fredericks.
October
Richard Hunt’s Column of the Free Spirit, the first large-scale work commissioned for the Sculpture Park, is unveiled
December
A new work by Magdalena Abakanowicz is added to the sculpture collection.
2001
September
The Arthur and Elizabeth Snell Sculpture Center, an orientation and discovery space, opens. It provides educational and interpretive information to help visitors appreciate sculpture from different perspectives including style, creative decision-making, inspiration and process.
October 27
The Kenneth E. Nelson Carnivorous Plant House, one of the largest and finest carnivorous plant collections in the United States, opens.
December
Membership exceeds 10,000 households. The sculpture collection grows in breadth with works by Jim Dine, Mark di Suvero, Keith Haring, Barbara Hepworth, Henry Moore, Louise Nevelson and George Rickey.
2002
January-March
The exhibition Rodin: Gates of Hell takes place in the indoor galleries
May 16
The 30-acre Meijer Sculpture Park opens to the public. The aesthetic experience of 24 works by Abakanowicz, di Suvero, Gormley, Maillol, Moore, Pomodoro, Rickey and other internationally celebrated artists is informed and enhanced by waterfalls, streams, woodlands, wildflowers and grassy meadows.
August 14
The Gardens welcomes its two-millionth visitor, four-year-old Jamie Lynn Urban of Ada, Michigan.
December
New sculpture is added to the collection throughout the year including work by Igor Mitoraj, Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, Roy Lichtenstein, Mimmo Paladino, George Segal and Juan Muñoz.
2003
January-May
Chihuly at the Gardens, featuring glass works by Dale Chihuly, becomes the most popular temporary sculpture exhibition to date.
May 17
The Michigan’s Farm Garden opens, a place where visitors can experience heirloom vegetable gardens, orchards and farm animal sculptures in a whimsical barnyard setting. The Farm includes a three-quarter scale replica of Lena Rader Meijer’s childhood home and an authentic 100-year-old barn and windmill.
June 15
The new 1700-seat outdoor amphitheatre opens with a concert by musician Art Garfunkel.
December
The sculpture collection continues to flourish with the addition of works by Arman, Henri Laurens, Dale Chihuly, Hanneke Beaumont, Lynn Chadwick, Louise Bourgeoise, Auguste Rodin and Barry Flannigan.
2004
January-May
George Segal: America debuts, the first exhibition in 40 years of work by this renowned American sculptor.
June 20
The Lena Meijer Children’s Garden, one of the largest interactive children’s gardens in the nation, opens with ten thematic areas: Kid Sense Garden, Great Lakes Garden, Quarry, Log Cabin, Treehouse Village, Butterfly Maze, Woodland Wetland, Labyrinth and Sculpture Walk.
October 21
The Gardens welcomes its three-millionth visitor, Judy Dodd of Claremont, California
December
New sculpture added to the collection throughout the year include the work of Anthony Caro, Michele Oka Doner, Chakaia Booker, Edgar Degas and Bernar Venet.
2005
January-May
The exhibition, Henry Moore: Imaginary Landscapes, takes place. The Gardens is the only North American venue to exhibit this collection of Moore’s work from the Henry Moore Foundation.
April 20
Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park celebrates ten years of growth with a gala event for donors, volunteers and key supporters who helped the Gardens achieve acclaim as one of the largest, most innovative cultural institutions in the Midwest.
September
The Sculpture Park grows in size from 30 to 50 acres. New acquisitions of monumental works by Tony Cragg, Kenneth Snelson and Jonathan Borofsky are placed in the expanded area.
