People

Thomas Paull Howell was born on March 5, 1862, in Wheeling, West Virginia, the son of Andrew Allen and Sarah Howell. He was educated at the University of Pennsylvania law school. He became the general manager of the General Chemical Company.

Thomas was married on November 9, 1898, to Alice Matilda King in Detroit, Michigan. Alice was born on May 23, 1878, in Fort Omaha, Nebraska, to General and Mrs. John Haskell King. They had four children: John King, Andrew Allen, Alice Matilda (Rhodes), born June 5, 1913, and Thomas Paul, Jr., born January 6, 1920.

Alice was a small group of women members of the Garden Club, founded in 1912. She envisioned a Garden Center at the Euclid Avenue end of Wade Park. The Fine Arts Garden was the first step in the development. With that completed, the next move was the establishment of the Garden Center. It occupied the former boathouse on Wade Park Lagoon. It was formally opened in 1930. The Garden Center, the first of its kind in the United States, served as a pattern for several such gardens in various cities.

When the Great Lakes Exposition of 1936 became a certainty, the Greater Cleveland Garden Center was asked to sponsor a Horticultural Garden. Mrs. Howell, president of the center, appointed a committee of men and women to put on a horticultural garden or summer flower show. They employed the services of Donald Gray, a well-known landscape architect, to prepare the plans.

Thomas was a charter member of The Country Club. Alice was a member of the Colonial Dames of America and the Intown Club.

Thomas died on January 31, 1938. Alice died on January 24, 1962. Both are buried in Lake View Cemetery.