Irene Botsford was the only daughter of Henry and Emma Schwartz Botsford of Chicago, Ill. Henry Botsford was born in 1834. He came to Chicago in 1853. He was called the founder of the meat-packing business in Chicago because he was the first to consolidate a number of small meat-packing businesses into the large and powerful Chicago Packing and Provisions Company. From the 1850s to 1900, his company prospered. He sold his interest in 1900 and was named a director of the Continental & Commercial National Bank.
Three years after Irene’s marriage to Bernard, in 1906, Upton Sinclair wrote “The Jungle,” an exposé of the meat-packing businesses and stockyards in Chicago. “The Jungle” was so graphic and provocative that it is said that President Theodore Roosevelt was made sick and could not eat meat. Public outcry prompted an investigation and reform. Henry Botsford’s retirement from the meat-packing business in 1900 spared him, and his name was never associated with the scandal.
From 1900 onward, the Botsfords were summer residents of Stockbridge. They rented cottages, one of which was Eden Hill, the former home of David Dudley Field. In June 1902, Bernard Hoffmann’s brother Walter married, and both Bernard and Irene were in the wedding party. Moreover, Mrs. Henry Botsford gave the wedding reception at Eden Hill. The following year, on October 17, 1903, Bernard and Irene were married at the Episcopal Church in Stockbridge.
Sadly, by the wedding day, Irene’s mother had died. The ceremony and reception were scaled down. Irene’s wedding was not the large and elaborate confection standard for society weddings of the period. The ceremony was limited to family only, and the wedding breakfast that followed took place in the dining room and large porch at Overbrook, the house Irene received as a wedding gift from her father. The house, on Larrywaug Crosssroad, was festooned with chrysanthemums, hydrangeas, and fall foliage. A few friends joined the family at the breakfast.
The following month, on November 17, 1903, an article ran in The Berkshire Eagle prompted by the Hoffmann wedding:
A profound change has occurred … Most of us can go back in memory to the time when June was the only month that a bride-elect thought it advisable to enter the matrimonial state. All other months in the calendar were quite outside the pale. Now October is chosen … The balmy air of budding summer gives way to the more somber and thoughtful air of October.
While the Overbrook was a wedding gift from her father, Irene Botsford had purchased the land three years earlier: 43 acres from Daniel B. Fenn, in 1900. The new house, sited overlooking Chochechoke SeePoo Brook, was completed in time for the wedding in 1903. In 1911, Irene Hoffmann purchased an additional seven acres from Mr. Fenn, and finally, in 1919, she purchased six contiguous acres from Frank Palmer, creating an estate of 56 acres.
In 1912, the Hoffmanns hired Frederick Law Olmsted, the premier landscape architect of his day, to assist in laying out the gardens at Overbrook. Scant information about the final plan of the Olmsted garden remains except that there was a rose garden and an elaborate formal garden.
Irene’s father died in 1919. His estate was valued at $8 million. Irene was the sole beneficiary.
Irene and Bernard had three children: Margaret, Walter, and Harry. In 1922, Margaret’s medical condition (diabetes) prompted a permanent move from Stockbridge to Santa Barbara, where a specialist resided. They sold Overbrook and remained in Santa Barbara for 12 years until 1934.
When they returned to Stockbridge, Irene and Bernard again lived on Larrywaug Crossroads but in a different house. They named their new Stockbridge home Brookside. Hoffmann invested his considerable energy and charm in leading efforts for the same sort of preservation, zoning, and building codes in the Berkshires as he had in California. Irene, intent upon her gardens, had an idea that became a permanent gift to Stockbridge.
In 1934, Bernard and Irene donated eight and a half acres to establish the Berkshire Garden Center (called the Berkshire Botanical Gardens today). She was president from 1934 to 1941. In 1950, Irene wrote “The Book of Herb Cookery” and donated the proceeds of her book to the Garden Center. The center was dedicated to Bernard and Irene Hoffmann in September, 1950, one year after Bernard’s death.
Bernard died in the summer of 1949 at Brookside while dressing for a concert at Tanglewood. Irene Botsford Hoffmann died in 1960. When her will was probated, there were endowments for the Garden Center and the Jackson Library. The Garden Center and library are two of Stockbridge’s greatest treasures.
In the 105 years, from Ferdinand’s permanent removal to Stockbridge and Irene’s death, the Hoffmanns of Stockbridge contributed to their hometown and helped make it the beautiful village it is today.
