About Us

Vision and Historical Overview

From our vision: Wellfield Botanic Gardens accepts as truth that mankind is inseparable from nature. Therefore, the Gardens will provide a shared natural and man-made environment of unique beauty that attracts, inspires, and educates in a setting dedicated to the celebration of nature and art.

Our purpose: To educate, entertain, and attract. The overlying purpose of Wellfield Botanic Gardens is to tirelessly promote the inseparable relationship between water, plants and animals. It will be a source for inspiration, creativity and education in a setting dedicated to the celebration of nature. The Gardens will be a place that fosters a sense of responsibility, and a sense of stewardship for the natural world, a place that brings people together for events, concerts, reunions and draws many visitors into our community. Nature and the Gardens provides a spiritual richness to life that is an essential part of being human.

Conceived as a community service project in 2002, the idea of creating a public garden to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Rotary International became a reality for the Elkhart Rotary Club in the spring of 2003. For over two years, the Club worked with a community steering committee to study the concept, interview landscape architects and raise $235,000 from club members to create the Master Plan for Wellfield Botanic Gardens. In February 2005, this project was officially handed over to the Gardens' board of directors to begin building to the Master Plan. The Gardens is a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit corporation that derives all of its operating capital, development costs and endowment from private donations, user fees, memberships and grants.

The Gardens is situated on 36 acres including 18 acres of water, six blocks north of downtown Elkhart on a historical piece of property known as the North Main Street well field. This site has been a source of hydraulic energy and drinking water for the City of Elkhart since the middle 1800s. Currently the City's Department of Public Works operates 13 wells on the site and Wellfield Gardens is the City's largest source of drinking water.

Today, this exciting project of the Master Plan's 23 gardens, event spaces, Visitors Center and Horticultural Center is being developed on the site to cooperatively work with the City's Public Works' mandate and the natural attributes of the site created by the flow of Christiana Creek. The Gardens will create an unparalleled opportunity to educate its visitors about the importance of fresh water, native habitat, conservation and the sustainability of our environment.

Already, the site preparation to recreate four larger ponds (recharge galleries) from six smaller ponds for wellhead production has been completed. Utilities have been relocated and enhanced and the primary irrigation system has been installed. The main dam and weir have been built at the outflow point and a heavy-duty pedestrian /vehicle bridge, a gift from John and Judy Goebel, has been installed. Two principle gardens, The Robert and Peggy Weed "English Cottage Garden" and the Stuart and Paula Barb "Annual Garden" have been built. A third one, The Max and Elizabeth Walker "Woodland Wildflower Garden and Learning Center" is now under construction. Also, many smaller projects have been completed and paid for to-date with almost $3,000,000 raised and committed.

There will be three learning sites devoted to the study and sustainability of fresh water. The Woodland Wildflower Garden will emphasize the importance of our native hardwood forest and the native wildflowers that inhabit this environment. The Wetlands Learning Center will be devoted to the restoration and education of shorelines and wetlands of our streams, rivers, lakes and ponds. The Children's Garden will be devoted to playing outdoors, learning how things grow, and the relationship of plants and water to all living things.

Because fresh water is the most important global issue facing the world's population today and forever forward and because many parts of the United States are beginning to experience a shortage of fresh water, it is paramount that every individual comprehend and practice sustainable water resources. It is our hope and belief that the development of Wellfield Botanic Gardens will be unique to the Midwest and perhaps all of the United States as an inspirational public garden and educational outreach facility. With its site amenities, its focus on fresh water and its inspiring natural setting, Wellfield Botanic Gardens will provide its visitors of all ages, with a unique opportunity for education, entertainment, inspiration and the pure enjoyment of nature and art.