Vander Veer Botanical Park

Vander Veer Botanical Park is a 33-acre public garden in Davenport, Iowa, and one of the earliest botanical parks west of the Mississippi River. Established in 1885 on the former Scott County Fairgrounds, it began as Central Park, modeled after New York City’s Central Park as part of Davenport’s effort to create a formal urban landscape. Renamed in 1912 for A.W. Vander Veer, the first secretary of the Davenport Park Board of Commissioners, it evolved after World War I with the addition of a conservatory, music pavilion, and fountains that shaped its botanical character. It remains a historic park and active public garden.

Davenport, Iowa · United States