ALEXANDRIA, La. (WNTZ) – Louisiana State University of Alexandria is honoring one of the city’s oldest and most influential civic groups with a new historical exhibit marking the 100th anniversary of the Alexandria Garden Club.

Titled “Striving Together to Seek the Beautiful: Celebrating 100 Years of the Alexandria Garden Club,” the exhibit opens with a public reception Friday at 11 a.m. at Bolton Library and will remain on display throughout October.

Organized by LSUA’s University Archives and Special Collections, the exhibition explores a century of community-building and beautification efforts led by the Garden Club, which has shaped Alexandria’s public spaces and civic identity since its founding in 1925.

The exhibit draws from the Alexandria Garden Club Collection housed at LSUA and features manuscripts, photographs, meeting minutes, yearbooks, and scrapbooks chronicling the club’s projects and impact over the last 100 years. Visitors can trace the group’s involvement in iconic local initiatives such as the Cleanest City Contest, Garden of the Month, and Civic Beautification Award, as well as long-standing collaborations with the Live Oak Society and stewardship of public gardens at Kent House and England Airpark.

The club’s work also includes major restoration projects, such as the revitalization of the Huie-Dellmon House garden in partnership with the Rapides Parish Library, a project that remains a hallmark of its legacy.

“It’s been delightful to uncover a century’s worth of civic-beautification work by the Alexandria Garden Club,” said Megan Lord, LSUA’s circulation, archives, and outreach coordinator. “The photographs, papers, and objects on display offer just a glimpse of how the club has continually worked to ‘Seek the Beautiful’ in Alexandria. Their efforts, both past and present, show how beauty can inspire community connection and pride.”

The exhibit is free and open to the public during regular library hours. Organizers hope it will encourage visitors to reflect on how civic organizations like the Alexandria Garden Club have helped shape the city’s landscape – and spirit – over the past century.