McGill Rose Garden in Charlotte’s Belmont neighborhood grew from a former coal and ice yard into a distinctive public garden through the long efforts of Henry and Helen McGill. After buying the property in 1950, they gradually transformed the industrial site, opening it to the public each Mother’s Day from 1967. The City of Charlotte acquired it in 1976 with federal grant help, and Henry McGill continued caring for it in Helen’s memory for decades. Today, the city-owned garden is an All-America Rose Selections public garden with more than a thousand rose bushes, other plantings, sculptures, and a preserved coal car recalling the land’s earlier use.