Benjamin Bussey
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Benjamin Bussey (1757-1842), was a prosperous merchant, farmer, horticulturalist and patriot in Boston, Massachusetts who made significant contributions to the creation of Arnold Arboretum.
Bussey owned land in what is now the Forest Hills area of Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts. In 1800, he inherited additional land from fellow patriot Eleazer Weld and further enlarged his estate between 1806 and 1837 by acquiring and consolidating various farms that had been established as early as the seventeenth century. His estate was known as "Woodland Hill."
He bequethed his acreage and part of his fortune to Harvard University "for instruction in agriculture, horticulture, and related subjects". Harvard used this land for the creation of the Bussey Institute, which was dedicated to agricultural experimentation. The first Bussey Institute building was completed in 1871 and served as headquarters for an undergraduate school of agriculture.
Sixteen years after Bussey's death, James Arnold, a New Bedford, Massachusetts whaling merchant, specified that a portion of his estate was to be used for "...the promotion of Agricultural, or Horticultural improvements". In 1872, when the trustees of the will of James Arnold transferred his estate to Harvard University, Arnold’s gift was combined with 120 acres of the former Bussey estate to create the Arnold Arboretum.
The arboretum's "Bussey Hill" still bears his name.
