Community Gardens

History of Community Gardens

Urban agriculture has a lengthy history in the United States. The Work Projects Administration (1935–43) sponsored relief gardens in vacant lots and city parks during the Depression, and many urbanites grew Victory Gardens on city land during World War II. Historical accounts of community gardening, however, usually begin with the 1970s. American cities like New York, Detroit, and Boston were experiencing severe fiscal crises, city services were unavailable or very low quality in many neighborhoods, and properties were abandoned or burned down by absentee landlords. The vacant lots, plagued by illegal dumping, vermin, and crime, were a disaster for property values and neighborhoods' quality of life.

The community gardens were born out of citizen direct action in response to this urban devastation. Gardeners cut locks on fences, hauled away tons of trash and rubble, and on occasion drove away drug dealers by force. In place of these unwanted land uses, gardeners created a wide variety of public green spaces. Many of the community gardens reflected the ethnic character of their neighborhoods and gardeners. For example, Puerto Rican gardeners throughout New York recreated the Puerto Rican countryside with casita gardens.

Poster for the U.S. Department of Agriculture promoting World War II victory gardens and vegetable growing.

In many cases, land for community gardens was provided as a sort of city service, akin to the Victory Gardens of the World War II era or the allotment gardens in the United Kingdom. For example, New York City's Operation Green Thumb helped gardeners secure free temporary leases to their lots. In such cases, the leasing process was often a bureaucratic challenge, requiring the gardens to establish a board of directors and regular meetings. Many of the garden groups lacked the experience or resources to pursue this route, so many of them persisted in a semi-legal status, facilitated by benign neglect from authorities.

On the other hand, many gardeners were essentially squatters, occupying city-owned or vacant lots without any sort of official sanction. As urban real estate values climbed through the 1980s, gardens increasingly came under pressure from development. Community garden activists responded in a variety of fashions, from fund drives to direct action. The New York garden conflicts became famously bitter; Mayor Guiliani told garden supporters, “This is a free-market system. Welcome to the era after communism.” Meanwhile, garden supporters compared the mayor to Hitler. Many of these conflicts over community gardens remain unresolved, even when a number of specific settlements have been reached and the political context of community gardening continues to evolve.

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