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C H R O N O F H O R S E . C O M FA L L 2 014 101 Above: Florida governor LeRoy Collins, Mary Call Collins (left) and Louise Maclay at Killearn Gardens in 1955. Opposite: With an extensive horticultural library in place upon purchasing his winter estate in the 1920s, Alfred B. Maclay dug right in. The camellia served as one of his favorites, along with rhododendron, sago palms, wisteria, cherry trees, redbuds, oriental magnolias, dogwoods and azaleas. He even lectured the local garden club on the history and care of the azalea. located at 108 West 59th Street overlooking Central Park. But, like many young men of the time, he owed much of his eques- trian education to the armed forces. At age 16, Maclay joined the fledgling Squadron A Cavalry troop of the New York National Guard, and he and his fellow riders were soon sent to Puerto Rico to serve in the Spanish- American War. He ended his 10-year service as a 2nd Lieutenant and then went to work for his father, Robert Maclay, as assistant treasurer at the family-owned, Manhattan-based Knickerbocker Trust Company. A few years later, the company would earn infamy as a key player in "the Panic of 1907," a major financial crisis, but both father and son had left the corporation before its downfall. In fact, Maclay departed Knickerbocker at age 30 to embark on a mega-version of the classic European "grand tour," a rite of passage for wealthy and educated young men. While most trips of that nature spanned about three months, Maclay spent two full years abroad. He was enthralled with Paris and its art muse- ums, but he also traveled far beyond France, to Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Germany, Egypt, India, Java, Russia, China and Japan. STATE ARCHIVES OF FLORIDA PHOTO

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