Benjamin Bussey

Benjamin Bussey (1757–1842) was a prosperous merchant, farmer, horticulturalist and patriot in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, who made significant contributions to the creation of the 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 bequeathed his land 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.

One half of the income from Bussey's estates and property endowed professorships and scholarships[1] in the Harvard Divinity School and the Harvard Law School, while the other half supported the Institute.

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 (0.5 km²) of the former Bussey estate to create the Arnold Arboretum.

The arboretum's Bussey Hill and Bussey Brook (formerly Sawmill Brook), and the adjacent Bussey Street still bear his name.

References

  1. ↑ Mary Jane Wilson. "Benjamin Bussey, Woodland Hill, and the Creation of the Arnold Arboretum" (PDF). Arnoldia, 2006 Vol. 64, No. 1. First, he directed a large portion of his estate to Harvard’s schools of law and theology, the two branches of education he considered most important in advancing “the prosperity and happiness of our common country.” … One-half of the income from his estates and property was to be used to support the institution [the Bussey Institute]; the other half was for the endowment of professorships or scholarships in the law and divinity schools.

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