The Botanic Garden at Independence Park was created in 1991 and is dedicated to horticultural education, recreation and nature studies. It is still a work in progress. The Botanic Garden is being constructed in phases as funds become available. Volunteers do much of the work in planting and maintaining the specialty gardens while BREC employs a landscape crew that maintain the grounds.

History of the Land: Independence Park originally was a part of the Goodwood Plantation, purchased in 1931 by East Baton Rouge Parish and used as an airport. The downtown Airport, as it was known, operated for 44 years and closed in 1975. The City Parish Council designated a part of the original 200-acre airport site to BREC for a public park. Independence Park was developed following BREC’s Master Plan and dedicated in 1976. In 1988 Baton Rouge Green raised funds to revise this plan to include a 15-acre site for a proposed botanic garden.