What it takes to build something that lasts - A letter to the next twenty years

By Eric Amt, with reflections from Stuart Barb, Tom Pletcher, and Chuck Grodnik

I have always believed in the tenet… “Do good work.” Also, from my grandfather, who was a county extension agent… “Prune when the knife is sharp.” My life has

revolved around taking care of land, planting trees, flowers, and shrubs, and

building things. Having the idea to build a public garden in Elkhart seemed to me

to be a reasonable task.

It's a task, I've come to realize, not so different from the one our nation's founders set for themselves 250 years ago. They didn't have a finished country in front of them, only the land, a bold idea, and a belief that ordinary people could building something worthwhile. Likewise, we didn't have a finished garden either. We had the North Main Street Well Field Trails, a lot of goodwill from a strong community, and the same belief.

As my friend and fellow founder Stuart Barb puts it, "...the Wellfield began as a gift to the community. Our vision was to present the Elkhart community with a gift that would last our lifetime, if not for hundreds of years, and would enhance the lives of everyone who lives in Elkhart and the surrounding area". The same audacity you find in 1776: a group of people betting on a future they'd never live to see.

With the good fortune to have the North Main Street Well Field Trails as our

canvas, the project felt quite doable. Not only did we have an opportunity to use

the water as our purpose to educate, but we also had a site that could be used for

entertainment, and we could create a wonderful tourist attraction. Taking on the

task of Executive Director was really more about being a project manager. With

thirty years of working with local contractors, I knew who did good work.

The board's foundational thought was simple: this Garden needs to stand for 100 years. The term “craftsmanship” became our working mantra. We were, and continue to be very fortunate to have the support, talent, and enthusiasm of many local tradespeople, the community’s financial support and the hard work of numerous volunteers who have all helped to create a “homegrown, world class garden”.

Tom Pletcher, another fellow founder, remembers a bronze plaque on the old Main Street Bridge: "We should transmit to future generations the City of Elkhart better than we found it." That line fueled him the way the promise of a "more perfect union" has fueled generations of Americans, an obligation passed down, added to, never quite finished.

Tom also remembers the fundraising and the teasing from donors who joked, "Don't take a call from Pletcher, he will only ask you for money." But nobody said no. That generosity of spirit is its own kind of founding document.

Founder Chuck Grodnik came to the project from a different angle. In 2002, he was asked to chair a committee to find a project for Elkhart Rotary to commemorate Rotary International's 100th anniversary. Wellfield is a reminder that founding something lasting rarely comes from a single tidy motive. It comes from watching what's missing and deciding to built it anyway.

Twenty years ago, a handful of people planted a garden. Looking back, they were planting something more: friendships, community bonds, healing, joy, and a legacy that keeps growing whether or not anyone is watching closely. There are still about 80 years left on the Gardens' renewable lease with the City of Elkhart — plenty of time for Wellfield to keep doing what it was always meant to do: help this community stay adaptable, sustainable, and connected to something larger than itself.

As America marks 250 years and Wellfield marks 20, the parallel isn't a stretch. Both started as an idea, a patch of ground, and a group of people willing to bet on something they'd never fully see finished. To the next generation of dreamers who want to build something meaningful for their community: don't wait for the knife to be perfectly sharp. Prune when it's sharp enough, and trust that what you plant will outgrow your imagination, too.

-Eric Amt

Wellfield Botanic Gardens' 1st Executive Director