The First Arbor Day

Mimosa Tree,
Theodor Horydczak, photographer, circa 1920-1950.
Washington as It Was: Photographs by Theodor Horydczak, 1923-1959

Pine Tree,
Theodor Horydczak, photographer, circa 1920-1950.
Washington as It Was: Photographs by Theodor Horydczak, 1923-1959

Nebraskans planted more than one million trees on April 10, 1872, in celebration of the first Arbor Day. The occasion fulfilled the dream of J. Sterling Morton, a newspaper editor and former governor of the Nebraska Territory. Morton, an ardent proponent of forestation, lobbied for a holiday to encourage the planting of trees. In 1885, thirteen years after Arbor Day was first celebrated, Nebraskans changed the date to April 22 in honor of Morton's birthday. Arbor Day is now officially celebrated worldwide, usually on the last Friday in April.

By 1907, Arbor Day was observed in every state in the Union, principally through school programs. Through these celebrations, schoolchildren were urged to consider the planting of a tree as a patriotic, even pious, act, as well as a sound investment and a contribution to community aesthetics.

The Washington Elm, Cambridge, Massachusetts, circa 1899.
Touring Turn-of-the-Century America: Photographs from the Detroit Publishing Company, 1880-1920
Popular legend holds that under this tree General George Washington first took command of the American army on July 3, 1775.  

Arbor Day Leaves, published in 1893 and featured in The Evolution of the Conservation Movement, 1850-1920, provides a brief history of Arbor Day, an overview of Arbor Day observances, and a sample Arbor Day program typical of those performed in schools throughout the country.

• Search on tree, elm, oak, willow, birch, palm, pine, maple and other names of trees in Touring Turn-of-the-Century America: Photographs from the Detroit Publishing Company, 1880-1920 and Washington as It Was: Photographs by Theodor Horydczak, 1923-1959 to see more pictures of trees in America.
• Search on the word forest in the American Memory/University of Chicago Library collection American Environmental Photographs, 1891-1936: Images from the University of Chicago Library to find more than five hundred photographs of early-twentieth-century American trees and forests.
• To learn about other important events in the movement to conserve and protect America's natural heritage, see the chronology in The Evolution of the Conservation Movement, 1850-1920. View the Collection Connections feature of the Learning Page for an additional resource concerning that collection.
• Also, don't miss the Today in History features on Bird Day, May 4, and Earth Day, April 22.

"'Only God Can Make a Tree',"
Stanley Clough, artist, Ohio, 1938.
By the People, For the People: Posters from the WPA, 1936-1943

"Plains Farms Need Trees,"
Joseph Dusek, artist, Chicago, Illinois, between 1936 and 1940.
By the People, For the People: Posters from the WPA, 1936-1943

"Spare Our Trees,"
Stanley Clough, artist, Ohio, 1938.
By the People, For the People: Posters from the WPA, 1936-1943

 Top