The Roger Williams Park Botanical Center opened to the public March 2 after years of development and delays. The facility, which is the largest indoor display garden in New England, is intended to attract tourists as well as serve as an educational resource for the surrounding community.
The botanical center, located in south Providence, is made up of four greenhouses and accompanying grounds. The two main greenhouses - the 40-foot high Conservatory Room and the Display Room - house fountains and plants in both pots and beds. Soothing music plays softly as visitors stroll among the exhibits. The two smaller greenhouses will be used as an educational resource, said Jim Shepard, acting director of the center.
A team headed by Alix Ogden, superintendent of Providence Parks, oversaw the design and development of the center. The original plan for the center was created during the administration of former Providence Mayor Vincent "Buddy" Cianci, and Ogden took over the project in 2004 at the request of Mayor David Cicilline '83.
Ogden said the botanical center had started as a "very different concept" and that Cicilline made adjustments to the original plan when he took office. "That revision, that really came from the mayor ... to develop a beautiful place to visit but that also had a really community-based mission," Ogden said.
Changes were also prompted by budget woes - original plans for the center listed a budget of $15 million, according to a March article in East Side Monthly. The current center cost $7.7 million, Ogden said - over half of which was provided by state bond dollars. The budget was supplemented by city and federal funding as well as private donations, Ogden said.
The budget cuts delayed the center's opening, Shepard said. "They weren't able to raise as much money as they originally hoped for. So we had to scale back the project, so redesigning took a little while," he said.
"We wanted to develop something that was economically responsible and something that the city along with its partners can care for in the years to come," Ogden said.
The botanical center is not intended to earn back the money spent to create it, but it should be able to support itself, Ogden said. The center yields income through admission ticket sales and from renting space out for events and parties. "The center is structured so that it makes money to support itself, so ongoing maintenance and seasonally when we need to increase staffing, we feel like we'll be able to do that," she said.
Ogden said the center's exhibit rotation and status as the largest indoor display garden in New England should draw visitors in for repeat trips.
The center is also an educational resource, Ogden said. The botanical center has initiated a program with the University of Rhode Island's horticultural and environmental programming center. "We're going to have a satellite campus up here for them, and they'll be providing horticultural programming from the botanical center starting (Monday)," Ogden said.
The University has no such program with the center yet, Ogden said, though she said it is a possibility.
After a month of operation, the botanical center is considered a success by those involved with its planning and operation as well as by visitors. "Everybody loves it," Shepard said.
"We're really, really pleased with both its daily attendance and the interest in having events there," Ogden said.
Cicilline "envisioned a center that would successfully combine the attributes that the botanical center has with state-of-the-art greenhouses and an educational center, and he's very pleased that the park superintendent has accomplished that," said Karen Southern, press secretary for Cicilline. "He expects that this will attract people from throughout the Northeast, while giving visitors a real deep appreciation for our natural beauty."
Visitors, too, have enjoyed the center's offerings. "I think it's wonderful. I really want to thank whoever it is that got this together and obviously put in a lot of money and thought and time," said Rob Cable, a visitor to the center who said he has lived in Providence for 25 years. "It's such a gift to Providence."
Cable said he came to the botanical center to escape the dreary New England weather. "Just being in a warm, kind of tropical environment, I find very soothing," he said.
Cable was accompanied by Judy Semonoff '74 P'05. "I love it. It's visually amazing, and the smells are incredible," she said.
Another visitor to the center, Angela Ionata, said she liked the center but wished there were more seasonal flowers. "I liked in the former greenhouses when they ... had masses of seasonal flowers. These look like they're all permanent here, although they're nice," she said.
