The idea of the Gardens first began in 1868 when the Buffalo Parks Commission started meeting with landscape architect Fredrick Law Olmsted, Sr., and Partners.

South Park also was to include a large pond for boating, a ring road for horse carriages, and a meadow.

Construction methods were based upon the famous Crystal Palace and Kew Gardens Palm House in England.

[citation needed] The first director, Professor John F. Cowell, oversaw the growing of plants for the park and personally located and obtained unusual tree specimens.

Shortly after it opened, thousands of visitors to the 1901 Pan-American Exposition visited South Park's conservatory and gardens, which thus quickly gathered national renown.