Norfolk Botanical Gardens were conceived during the Great Depression by City Manager Thomas Thompson and carried out by city gardener Frederic Heutte with noted landscape architect Charles F. Gillette as a consultant. In 1938 about 200 black women, paid with Works Progress Administration funds, cleared and planted the first 25 acres. The first phase of the garden, which now occupy 175 acres and include landscaped vistas, arboretums, and special display areas, was their creation.