President Lyndon Johnson and Lady Bird Johnson created the garden in January 1969 for their grandchildren; more than 30 bronze handprints and footprints still mark the garden preserved on the White House grounds

There are some gardens located on the grounds of the White House and most of them are used for ceremonies or public purposes. People are familiar with the large lawns and the places where press conferences and photographs with floral decorations are taken. However, there is another, much smaller space which is located in the corner of the South Grounds and has a totally different purpose. It was created not for any ceremony, but for children. Presidential families often include young grandchildren, who visit the White House, which is a house, an office and a museum at the same time. The garden served as a secluded play area for presidential grandchildren, away from the bustle of the Executive Mansion. In addition, it became the source of the family history, as it has a physical mark of children who played there before.A garden created in January 1969, with two design creditsThe National Park Service says President Lyndon B. Johnson and his wife, Claudia Alta “Lady Bird” Johnson, created the Children’s Garden in January 1969. The agency credits the layout to Edward Durrell Stone and says it was scaled for young children. However, the White House Historical Association’s Texas and the White House website claims that the design is by Edward Durrell Stone Jr. and Edward Alexander. The White House Historical Association places the Children’s Garden on the South Lawn and dates its dedication to January 19, 1969, while the National Park Service says only that it was created in January 1969.Lady Bird Johnson’s diary entry of January 19, 1969Stewart D. McLaurin, President of the White House Historical Association, wrote Reflections: A Secret Garden, published on January 16, 2015, which quotes Lady Bird Johnson’s diary entry for January 19, 1969. In that entry, Lady Bird Johnson wrote, “Carrying an umbrella, I went down to the Children’s Garden, which will be our departing gift to the White House.” She saw the garden as a charming and very quiet place, even on a gray day. This is significant because the garden was completed during their last days in the house.The first commemorated grandchildrenThe first prints in the garden belonged to the Johnsons’ grandchildren, Patrick Lyndon Nugent and Lucinda Robb. Lucinda Robb Florio says hers were the first handprints left there, though she was far too young at the time to appreciate the White House. But the garden would certainly seem a suitable gift for someone who loved nature, like her grandmother.The same article includes recollections from Lauren Bush Lauren, a granddaughter of President George H. W. Bush, who was about five years old when she and her cousins made their handprints. The fresh blocks of cement were brought up to the Third Floor Solarium, making for a memorable and hectic day.19 grandchildren in 2015 against more than 30 castings todayThe two counts differ because they were published years apart and measure different things. The 2015 Historical Association article counts 19 presidential grandchildren who left prints in the garden during its first 45 years. The National Park Service now counts more than 30 castings, a figure that reflects later additions, including ten bronze handprint pavers for President Donald Trump’s ten grandchildren added in 2020, as Ivanka Trump announced and the fact that one child can have both a handprint and a footprint. The Texas and the White House website gives the garden’s size as 18 by 30 feet.The 2019 Tennis Pavilion review and the garden’s date of originThe National Capital Planning Commission June 2019 staff report titled"White House Grounds, Tennis Pavilion" mentions this garden being located west of the tennis courts. It is said that this garden serves as a private playground for the grandchildren of the President, which was established during the time of Lady Bird Johnson. This garden has footprints and handprints of the children and grandchildren of previous presidents embedded in the pavement. NCPC reports give its establishment as either 1968 or 1969, but the National Park Service dates its creation to January 1969 and the White House Historical Association dates its dedication to January 19, 1969. The later report in June 2019 mentioned that the next stage of the pavilion construction will involve moving the garden eastward. However, the NCPC's July 11, 2019 decision states that the tennis pavilion is the link between the garden and the tennis court.What the bronze prints recordThe Johnsons themselves made the garden, while successive presidential families later added bronze casts through their children. The association refers to the garden as a symbol of the relationship between the presidential families and the place where they used to live. Each cast represents one child on one day.You use AI every day. Now get your AI Quotient. Take the AIQ test.