Mary Elizabeth Sharpe

Mary Elizabeth Sharpe
Mary Elizabeth Sharpe; portrait by Jean-Pierre Laurens (1931)
Born	Mary Elizabeth Evans (1884-10-23)October 23, 1884 Syracuse, New York
Died	April 4, 1985(1985-04-04) (aged 100) Providence, Rhode Island
Spouse	Henry Dexter Sharpe
Children	Henry D. Sharpe Jr.

Mary Elizabeth Sharpe (née Evans; October 23, 1884 – April 4, 1985) was an American philanthropist, businesswoman, and self-taught landscape architect who is known for her work on Brown University's campus in Providence, Rhode Island. She became a prominent member of the Garden Club of America, created an annual tree fund, and worked on many landscaping projects.^[1]

Sharpe was born in Syracuse, New York, on October 23, 1884, to William E. G. Evans and Fanny Elizabeth Evans. At a young age, Sharpe lost her father, and as a way to help her mother and three sisters, she began making candies to sell.^[1][2] At age 13, after selling candy to friends and townspeople, the knowledge of Sharpe's candy spread throughout the city as "Mary Elizabeth's Candy".^[3] The business grew, and she moved to New York and created a managing company, "Mary Elizabeth Ltd of New York", and two tea rooms in Boston and Newport.^[1]

At the start of World War I Mary Sharpe joined the US Food Administration and later joined the Red Cross in Paris to check over the U.S. Central Diet kitchen.^[1] During this time Sharpe also went on to write two books. One detailed her candy and chocolate recipes and techniques.^[2] The other was titled War time Recipes.^[4]

After the war, Mary Sharpe returned home to her businesses, and in 1920, she married Henry Dexter Sharpe, a man she met on a horseback-riding trip out west before the war. They married and settled down in Providence, Rhode Island, near the Sharpe family's manufacturing company, Brown & Sharpe.^[2]

Settling down in Providence allowed Mary Sharpe to explore her interest in gardening. She closed her businesses in the mid-1930s and immersed herself in the culture of Providence. As her love of French culture grew, Henry and Mary built a French-style house at 84 Prospect Street which was later named the Rochambeau House. This building would later house Brown University's Department of Romance Languages.^[1]

In 1924, the couple had a son named Henry D. Sharpe Jr. who would grow up to take over the Brown & Sharpe business.^[4]

In the 1940s, Mary Sharpe joined the Garden Club of America which allowed her to create an annual tree fund that successfully planted 3,000 new trees. She later also took on a job being the landscape architect for Brown University's campus.^[1]

She was also heavily involved in politics; she was a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1928 and 1936 and Republican Elector in 1932.^[4] During the 1960s Sharpe successfully advocated for a waterfront park at India Point in Providence.^[6]

In the 1970s, she pledged $153,000 for the dilapidated waterfront in India Point Park and got the mayor to match her in funds to create a tree-lined park. Sharpe would continue to work on landscape projects like India Point Park and Brown University across Providence until she died on April 4, 1985.^[1]

In 2001, Mary Elizabeth Sharpe was inducted into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame for her contributions.^[1]

• Carbone, Gerald M. (March 14, 2017). Brown & Sharpe and the Measure of American Industry: Making the Precision Machine Tools That Enabled Manufacturing, 1833-2001. McFarland. ISBN 9781476669212.
• Weiss, Peg (December 1978). "Florence Koehler and Mary Elizabeth Sharpe: An American Saga of Art and Patronage". Arts Magazine (4): 108–117.