A constant refrain which occurs in the media is the bitter complaints of the citizens of Georgetown as to the neglected drainage and flooding of the City at the first shower of rain, the poor state of the City’s roads and the general failure to maintain them and the heaps of rubbish which could be found everywhere, especially in the downtown areas.

The lack of these basic services has left citizens little time to even turn their minds to the beautification, the aesthetics of their City. This involvement with the City’s necessary services contrasts with the 19th and the first half of the 29th centuries when citizens had a deep interest in the beautification of the City. In those years, Georgetown had the enviable reputation of being the “Garden City of the West Indies” and was widely so recognised.
The core of the City, the area between the River and Vlissingen Road and the Punt Trench (now filled up and known as Independence Boulevard) to Thomas Lands was indeed a well-kept and beautiful garden. All the main streets were planted with trees, some with flowering ones like flambouyants and some with cabbage palms or trees which were beautiful in their symmetry. Camp Street, for instance, was planted with flamboyants which were immortalised by Sharples’ watercolours. Broad Street, from the cemetery gate to Saffon Street, was planted on both sides with cabbage palms, Main Street had its stately Samaans along its avenue, some of which still survives and Hadfield Street, east of Camp Street was planted with mora trees. Brickdam had an interesting collection, some of them, rare trees.

The Town Council took a keen interest in tree-planting in the City because the city was a wooden one and the threat of disastrous fires were ever present. In fact, it was the disastrous fires of the 1860s which led to the founding of the Hand-n-Hand Fire Insurance Company. Trees were regarded as an excellent fire-break. Another reason why tree panting in the City was so important is that trees absorbed a large quantity of water in a town that was below sea level. The Samaan trees in Main Street are among the best examples of trees absorbing large quantities of water. The Town Councillors and citizens were proud of the aesthetic reputation their City had worldwide of being the “Garden City of the West Indies” and were determined to keep tree-planting and tree-grooming an important priority. On each tree in the main streets was placed an aluminium plaque giving the botanical and common names of the tree, its age and origin and sometimes other information. The trees thus gave the population, and particularly the school children, some botanical information. A few of these plaques still survive.

This garden city of white wooden houses in spacious yards, often with front flowering gardens, with clean streets free of any kind of garbage and rubbish and with beautiful trees of uniform height lining the streets began to decline in the 1960s when there was widespread political disorder and discord in the city. Then came Independence from Britain and the democratisation of the Town Council quickly took place. The former Town Council whose members consisted of wealthy businessmen and professionals who served pro bono and without any pay were replaced by mostly working-class Councillors who were less educated and depended upon the stipend they received from the Council. The City Engineer’s Department which may have stemmed the tide of decline was also overcome with corruption and loss of qualified staff.

Today, the City is in decline and is known, not as the “garden city” but as the “garbage city”. The City Council claims that it does not have the funds to address the City’s many problems and has to depend on the Central Government for bailouts. Most citizens seem to feel that the fundamental reason why the Council cannot be successful in executing its remit is simply because of poor management and wrong priorities in spending.
Fortunately, the trees and addressing the aesthetics of the City does not entail any extra expenditure since the Council has staff and equipment which could be deployed in planting, cleaning and trimming trees and basic landscaping. This work of renewing the “Garden City” does not require any special expertise, or as pointed out above any extra funding.

We would suggest that work be started immediately on “old Georgetown” or “core Georgetown”:-

Methodically choose one street at a time. Trees which need cleaning of vines or trimming or reducing in height to be uniform with the others should be done. Some trees need to be replanted to replace those which were dead or diseased. In some streets, the trees have to be shifted deeper into the parapets to accommodate the parking of vehicles.

Brickdam and Main streets are among the special streets since they have a long historical provenance. The trees in both streets need to be cleaned, the dead trees removed and the heights have to be made uniform and the symmetry of the trees have to be preserved.

In Brickdam, the rare trees which are remaining have to be preserved and propagated, one such example being the tree outside of St Stanislaus College which is over a century and a half old and is the only one of its kind in Georgetown. There are very few streets which were not planted with trees in old Georgetown, the main one being Lamaha Street. The street probably never was planted with trees because it ran in close parallel to the railway embankment where the railway trains ran. On the Lamaha Street parapet opposite Peter Rose Street, there is a magnificent peepal tree. Probably more peepal trees could be planted in line along the parapet or some other flowering trees like golden showers.

Beautifying the city once again with its trees would be welcomed by citizens.