The Man From Manhattan

I spent one day of my life in Manhattan, Kansas, the home of Kansas State University. It was October 19, 1987. I remember the October 19 because it was my mother's birthday, and the 1987 because during my drive home to Oklahoma after giving a talk at the university, I listened to news coverage of the stock market crash. On that day, stock averages fell more than 20%. Experts later attributed most of the fall to the relatively new phenomenon of computer trading.

I hardly knew that almost three decades later, I would be writing about a man from Manhattan, David Fairchild. His father was professor of botany and later president of Kanasa State, and young David grew up surrounded by scientists and scholars. He completed Bachelor's and Master's degrees at the university before leaving for the wider world.

After further education in the U. S. and Europe, Fairchild became the principal plant hunter for the U. S. Department of Agriculture. As leader of numerous expeditions throughout the world, he brought back many thousands species and varieties of plants. His impact on the development of agriculture in the U. S. is beyond measure.

In 1905, he married Marian, daughter of well-known tech entrepreneur Alexander Graham Bell. MRFC members who attended Larry Schokman's 2013 presentation to our club know about the Kampong, the remarkable residence, research facility, and botanical park that the Fairchilds developed in Coconut Grove, Florida. They lived there from 1928 until their passing in mid-century.

Fairchild had a much smaller role in his namesake Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden. It was established in 1936 by accountant, educator, and businessman William Montgomery, who named it in honor of the great horticulturalist.

David Fairchild had many achievements, from serving as President of the American Genetic Society to spearheading the establishment of Everglades National Park. But he is best remembered as the greatest plant hunter in American history. In the words of Larry Schokman, “The long distances involved, the different people, the strange foods that he ate, the unusual sights, sounds, and aromas, only whetted his curiosity instead of dulling it. He referred to the world as 'my Garden'”.