Martha, Second curator of the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden

As second curator of the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden, Martha Crone worked for over 40 years to grow the garden we see today. Here’s her story: 

 Martha Crone began volunteering in what was then called the Wild Botanical Garden in 1918 at the age of 24. She worked closely with the garden’s founder and namesake, Eloise Butler, and the two women forged a strong friendship. Often Martha would receive by mail plant cuttings and seeds that Eloise found while traveling. After Eloise’s death in 1933, Martha Crone became the garden’s second curator, a role she held for 26 years.  

Martha Crone greatly expanded the number and variety of plants in the Wildflower Garden. She was self-taught, and would search for specimens, rescue plants from endangered habitats, receive donations and grow plants from seed. In 1951 Martha Crone completed the first garden census since the original survey in 1907 and stated that, not including mosses, algae and fungi, the garden contained over 1,000 species. She estimated that to that date, she had set out 42,500 plants in the Garden. Additionally, a tool inventory from that time highlights that this work was all done by hand, no electricity was available in the garden at that time.  

Martha and her husband Bill were avid mushroom hunters and active members of the Minnesota Mycological Society, participating in shows at the State Fair. After she retired as garden curator in 1959, she remained an active writer and volunteer and in 1970, the new shelter building was dedicated to her. 

In 1976, to the Friends of the Wild Flower Garden she wrote, “How fortunate that this native area was added while still in its unspoiled state. It’s most necessary to meet the demands of our expanding population. I have devoted my life to what I consider this satisfying pursuit.” 

 Resources: Martha Crone History, Friends of the Wild Flower Garden. Notes for which were gathered from the Martha Crone Papers and Friends of the Wild Flower Garden Papers, Minnesota Historical Society Collections. Image 2 is from the Minneapolis Newspaper Collection, Hennepin County Library and the remaining are from the MPRB Archives.