Benson Gardens - University of Nevada, Reno
N 39° 32.669 W 119° 49.056
11S E 257881 N 4380993
This dedicated plaque resides near the Lawlor Events Center on the University of Nevada, Reno campus.
Waymark Code: WMJY17
Location: Nevada, United States
Date Posted: 01/14/2014
Views: 3
Visitors to the Lawlor Events Center on the University of Nevada, Reno campus might notice a slightly out-of-place boulder near a set of stairs containing a plaque that reads:
1983
BENSON GARDENS
NAMED IN HONOR OF
DOROTHY PHILLIPS BENSON
WHO MADE IT ALL POSSIBLE |
I did a little online research on Dorothy Benson and found a PDF document that mentions her and her donation to the UNR campus and reads:
Subsequently, the 1979 session of the Nevada State Legislature reaffirmed its commitment made in 1977 and passed legislation imposing a state tax on slot machines in lieu of the just repealed federal tax and authorizing the funding and construction of the 2 campus facilities with the proceeds. The southern one was projected to cost $30 million and the northern $24 million. The north also got a $1.5 million grant from the Gund Foundation and a $150,000 gift for landscaping by Dorothy Benson—retired owner of the Arlington Nursery in Reno, who had already contributed an arboretum just north of the Atmospherium-Planetarium.
Dorothy Phillips Benson is a 1936 graduate of the University of Nevada. In 1936, with her father, she began operation of the Arlington Gardens Nursery off Arlington Street and since 1946 has, with her father, donated freely of plantings and landscaping over many parts of the university campus. In 1946 she donated the Benson gardens around the Atmospherium-Planetarium in memory of her just deceased husband, John. Since the inception of this present events center, she has extended her gifts and has provided for the extension of the landscaping and arboretum around Lawlor Events Center, and there is now a bronze plaque outside the events center which reads, "Benson Gardens: named in honor of Dorothy Phillips Benson, who made it all possible."
Dorothy Benson was born on August 13, 1913 and died in September of 1987. From looking at this boulder in relation to the events center, I am under the assumption that the landscaping around this building has been updated over the years and probably doesn't reflect what the Benson Gardens appeared like when this plaque was monumented in 1983, the same year as the events center.