Coloured postcard showing a view in the conservatory of the Southport Botanic Gardens. The Southport Botanic Gardens were founded by the Southport and Churchtown Botanic Gardens Company in 1874, and the land provided by the Revd Charles Hesketh, who opened the completed gardens in 1875, and the Museum the year later. In 1932 the Gardens were closed in preparation for a housing scheme, but were instead redeveloped as a municipal park, opening as The Botanic Gardens and King George Playing Fields in 1937