In 1875, as Lexington prepared to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Battle on the Green and welcome Ulysses S. Grant and his cabinet to the festivities, it was determined that the area in front of the railroad depot needed refurbishing and that a permanent association was needed to improve the streets and open spaces of the increasingly urbanized town. In response, Lexington Field and Garden Club (LFGC) was organized.

The following year the club adopted a constitution pledging to care and protect the trees and shrubs in the streets and public places of Lexington; to improve the town by the planting of additional trees and ornamental plants; to study and develop the natural resources of the vicinity; and to cultivate taste in arboriculture and horticulture and the discussion of these and kindred subjects. In 1891 LFGC officially incorporated.

After improving the area around the depot, LFGC undertook projects to beautify planting islands throughout the town and in 1887 took on responsibility for the care of the Common on condition that the town provide $150/year while the club donated $50/year. Under its auspices the hay-covered Common, once filled with cows, became a beautiful historical park.

Frederick L. Emery assumed the presidency of LFGC in 1904 and the Club acquired land now known as Hastings Park, raising the funds necessary to grade and adapt it. This was followed by Emery’s successful petition to the railroad to sell the land adjacent to the Depot to the town, realized in 1921. Known as Depot Square, the area was later renamed in Emery’s honor.

In 1933, some 57 years after its founding, Mrs. Hollis Webster was elected LFGC’s first female president. Since 1955, all the presidents have been women, but they were listed with their husbands’ first names, for example, ‘Mrs. John Smith,’ until 1988. Today, LFGC women and men continue to advance the organization’s mission focused on education, service, and friendship while offering educational, social, and community improvement opportunities through lectures, workshops, field trips, and projects focused on horticulture and landscaping.

Lexington Field and Garden Club’s projects include: Buckman Tavern Memorial Herb Garden; Lexington Minuteman statue; Cary Memorial Library Garden; Hancock-Clarke House Herb Gardens; Munroe Tavern Colonial Flowers and Wildflower gardens; St. Brigid’s Mary Garden; the US Post Office, and many civic garden spaces throughout town. They also offer garden grants for civic initiatives.