AmeriFlora '92

[1] AmeriFlora was formed and incorporated on November 14, 1986, and sanctioned as an official 1992 commemorative event by the United States Christopher Columbus Quincentenary Jubilee Commission in 1989.

A team of central Ohio residents, special event planners and horticultural experts began working in the mid-1980s, and by 1992, the staff included over 200 full-time employees.

On the grounds sits the Franklin Park Conservatory, originally built in 1895 and modeled after the Glass Palace of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago.

[2] Despite an extensive multi-year publicity and marketing campaign, AmeriFlora did not attract enough visitors to meet the bills, especially as the costs escalated before the gates even opened.

AmeriFlora closed on Columbus Day 1992, but the cleanup, demolition of buildings, and conversion of the grounds into a public park extended into the winter months.