garden city

In the UK, a town built in a rural area and designed to combine town and country advantages, with its own industries, controlled developments, private and public gardens, and cultural centre. The idea was proposed by Ebenezer Howard, who in 1899 founded the Garden City Association, which established the first garden city: Letchworth in Hertfordshire.

Based on the British model, the first garden city in the USA was begun in Jackson Heights, Queens, New York 1904; it was emulated by the nearby Sunnyside Gardens community, which attracted Lewis Mumford and his family, as well as Forest Hills Gardens, also in Queens, New York. Although neighbouring communities have surrounded these, still an aura of gentility exists in these urban, gardened streets.

Garden City

Town in Chatham County, southeast Georgia; population (1990) 7,400. It is 6 km/4 mi northwest of Savannah, of which it is a suburb.

Garden City

Town and administrative headquarters of Finney County, southwest Kansas; population (2000) 28,500. It is situated on the Arkansas River, in a region made fertile by irrigation. The town processes wheat, alfalfa, sugar beets, and corn. Cattle are also central to its economy, and agricultural and building products are manufactured here. It is home to Garden City Community College (1919).

Garden City

Town in Wayne County, southeast Michigan; population (1990) 31,800. It is a residential suburb, 24 km/15 mi west of Detroit.

Garden City

Community in Hempstead town, on west Long Island, Nassau County, southeast New York; population (1990) 21,700. It is located 29 km/18 mi east of Manhattan. It is an affluent community noted for its upscale shopping district, and is home to publishing and financial services firms. Adelphi University and Nassau Community College are in Garden City.

The first planned community in the USA, it was founded in 1869 by the Irish-born US merchant Alexander T Stewart. Mitchel Field, formerly the East Coast's largest military airfield, and a major Grumman aircraft producer in World War II, and Roosevelt Field, from which Charles Lindbergh took off on his historic 1927 flight to Paris, have recently become homes to shopping malls.

Garden City

Resort area of the northeast South Carolina shore; see Grand Strand.