more about Our History

1940

In 1940 Mrs. Mary Baer and Mrs. Frances Weaver, with the assistance of a weekly volunteer crew of six, began to dry herbs and craft herbal products at Mrs. Baer’s…

1941

The St. Louis Herb Society was founded in 1941 by six original members – four women and two men, under the leadership of Dr. Edgar Anderson and Mrs. Mary Baer….

1947

In its inaugural year 1941, The St. Louis Herb Society became the St. Louis Unit of the Herb Society of America. “The first major project of the unit was the…

1953

The highlight of the year was a “Cook’s Tour” of fifteen St. Louis area kitchens and gardens. Herb  products and potted herbs were sold at one stop. Net proceeds benefitted…

1964

In celebration of its centennial in 1959, the Missouri Botanical Garden (MBG) undertook an ambitious program of restoration and expansion. As part of this program, in 1964 a garden was…

1966

  In October, the Society’s first “Fall Harvest Sale” was set up in the Herb Garden at what was then called Shaw’s Garden, now the Missouri Botanical Garden. It sold…

1969

In 1969, The St. Louis Herb Society published the first edition of How to Grow Herbs in the Midwest. This work was the result of a collaboration between The St….

1973

The St. Louis Herb Society published two companion books in 1973, The St. Louis Herb Society Cookbook and Lore and Legend of the Great Culinary HERBS and SPICES. The original…

1978

In 1978, the Missouri Botanical Garden Herbarium asked The St. Louis Herb Society to make herbarium sheets of the individual herbs in the enlarged herb garden. It took all season…

2002 and 2003

In September 2002, renovation began on the Herb Garden, in the Missouri Botanical Garden adjacent to Tower Grove House. Renovation continued through spring 2003 when The St. Louis Herb Society…

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