This month in history (55 years ago)
Mr. and Mrs. Frederick C. Matthaei in 1957 made a gift to the university of some 200 acres of the northern portion of the Radrick Farms estate, which with the purchase of the adjacent farm land along Dixboro Road provided an area of more than 300 acres. By mid-1960 the collection of indoor plants from the old greenhouses were transferred to new houses of high quality aluminum, with automated temperature and ventilation and supplementary lighting. The new facility, now Matthaei Botanical Gardens, was dedicated by President Harlan Hatcher in June 1961.
— From “The University of Michigan: An Encyclopedic Survey”
