Joel Roberts Poinsett
1759 - 1851
Statesman • Diplomat • Naturalist
Founder, National Institution for the
Promotion of Science, forerunner of
the Smithsonian Institution
• First United States Minister to Mexico •
• United States Secretary of War •
While serving as Minister to Mexico in 1825, Poinsett introduced to
America a species of the Euphorbia plant later named
Poinsettia pulcherrima in his honor.
Marker is on South Main Street.
Courtesy hmdb.org
