Morton Arboretum

Last updated
The Morton Arboretum
The Champion of Trees
Morton Arboretum Winter 2005 05.JPG
The visitor center
Morton Arboretum
Type Arboretum
Location4100 Illinois Route 53, Lisle, Illinois
Coordinates 41°48′58″N88°04′13″W / 41.81611°N 88.07028°W / 41.81611; -88.07028
Area1,700 acres (690 ha)
EstablishedDec 14, 1922;101 years ago (Dec 14, 1922)
Founder Joy Morton, founder Morton Salt
Open365 days a year
Hiking trails16 miles
Plants222,000
Species4,100 types of trees
Budget$31.3M
Website mortonarb.org

The Morton Arboretum, in Lisle, Illinois, United States, is a public garden [1] and outdoor museum with a library, herbarium, and program in tree research including the Center for Tree Science. [2] Its grounds, covering 1,700 acres (6.9 square kilometres), include cataloged collections of trees and other living plants, gardens, and restored areas, [3] [4] [5] among which is a restored tallgrass prairie. The living collections include more than 4,100 different plant species. There are more than 200,000 cataloged plants. [6]

Contents

As a place of recreation, [6] the Arboretum has hiking trails, roadways for driving and bicycling, a 4-acre (16,000 m2) interactive children's garden [7] and a 1-acre (4,000 m2) maze.

The Schulenberg Prairie [8] at the Arboretum was one of the earliest prairie restoration projects in the Midwest, begun in 1962. [9] It is one of the largest restored prairies in the Chicago suburban area.

Three dozen cuttings from the old burr oak that had been in Lincoln Park Zoo will be grafted onto rootstocks at the Arboretum. [10]

The Arboretum offers an extensive nature-centered education program for children, families, school groups, scouts, and adults, including tree and restoration professionals. The Natural Areas Conservation Training (N-ACT) Program offers classroom and online courses in ecological restoration techniques. The Arboretum also offers credit courses through the Associated Colleges of the Chicago Area, a regional consortium.

Mission

The mission of The Morton Arboretum is to collect and study trees, shrubs, and other plants from around the world, to display them across naturally beautiful landscapes for people to study and enjoy, and to learn how to grow them in ways that enhance the environment. Its goal is to encourage the planting and conservation of trees and other plants for a greener, healthier, and more beautiful world. [11]

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) designated the Morton Arboretum as its Center for Species Survival: Trees, to study and promote the conservation and restoration of global tree ecosystems and strategies for species survival. [12]

History

A Monarch Butterfly at the Morton Arboretum Danaus plexippus Cirsium.jpg
A Monarch Butterfly at the Morton Arboretum
A time-lapse of a bike ride on the west side

The arboretum was established on December 14, 1922, by Joy Morton, founder of the Morton Salt Company. [13] Morton's father, Julius Sterling Morton, had founded Arbor Day. Morton's daughter, Jean Cudahy (Morton) took her father's seat on the board of trustees after he died in 1934. [14] The arboretum's first superintendent was Clarence E. Godshalk, who had received a master's degree in landscape design from the University of Michigan in 1921. [15] Joy Morton's Thornhill Estate, established in 1910, formed the core of the Arboretum's original area. In 1940, Mrs. Cudahy hired May Theilgaard Watts as a teacher in the new educational program. [14] The Morton family requested an educational center be constructed on the site of their home. The estate was razed in the early 1940s following the death of Joy's wife Margaret. [16] 1962 marked the beginning of the Schulenberg Prairie Restoration Project. Clarence Godshalk developed plans to create a buffer on the western border of the Arboretum. He called it "a native planting" and planned for it to be on farmland acquired by the Arboretum in the late 1950s. He wanted to turn old farmland back into a prairie with seeds collected from prairies nearby. He asked Ray Schulenberg to take this on. Schulenberg developed restoration goals and began replicating composition, structure, and local gene pools of plants in local prairies. He studied all of this with Floyd Swink, the Arboretum's taxonomist at the time, Robert Betz, a biologist, and David Kropp, a landscape architect. [17]

Board of trustees

The first chairman of the board of trustees for the Morton Arboretum was Joy Morton. Following his death in 1934, his daughter, Jean M. Cudahy (Morton), became chairman of the board. Jean died in 1953 and her brother, Sterling, became chairman of the board. When Sterling died in 1961, his daughter Suzette Morton Davidson became chairman of the board. in 1977, Suzette Morton retired and was replaced by the first person outside of the Morton family to be chairman of the board, Charles C. Hafner III. In 2000, W. Robert Reum became chairman of the board. As of 2014, Darrell B. Jackson has been chairman of the board of trustees. [14]

Directors

In 1938, Clarence Godshalk was named director of the Morton Arboretum. He served for 28 years, before he retired in 1966. He was replaced by Dr. Marion Trufant Hall, who served as director until 1990, when Gerard T. Donnelly was named executive director and CEO. [14]

Sterling Morton Library

Designed by noted Chicago architect Harry Weese, the Sterling Morton Library [18] was constructed in 1963 and named after Sterling Morton, son of founder Joy Morton. [19] It holds more than 30,000 books and magazines, as well as tens of thousands of non-book items including prints, original art, letters, photographs, landscape plans and drawings. The collections focus on plant sciences, especially on trees and shrubs; gardening and landscape design; ecology, with a special interest in Midwestern prairie, savanna, woodland, and wetland ecosystems; natural history; and botanical art. Its catalog is online. [20]

The Library's Suzette Morton Davidson Special Collections includes books, artwork, historic nursery catalogs, landscape drawings, photographs, letters, maps and institutional documents. It also includes documents of May Theilgaard Watts, Jens Jensen, Marshall Johnson, O.C. Simonds and Donald Culross Peattie.

The Sterling Morton Library is a member of the Council on Botanical and Horticultural Libraries.

Visitor Center

Visitor Center Morton Arboretum Winter 2005 03.JPG
Visitor Center

The 36,000 sq ft (3,300 m2) Visitor Center was built in 2004 and designed by David Woodhouse Architects. [21] The building includes wood representing the Arboretum's collections and incorporates sustainable features such as permeable pavers in the parking lots and local fieldstone salvaged from a predecessor building.

Illumination

An annual Illumination of tree lights is conducted at the Arboretum from the end of November until early January. [22] Visitors can enjoy a light show, music, and beverages. [22] The illumination section is along a mile-stretch of curved, paved pathway. [23] The creation of the illumination occurred in 2013. [24] The creator is a lighting designer from the United Kingdom named John Featherstone. [24] He started his career lighting many concerts and plays. Later he opened a museum, and then began his work at the Morton Arboretum. [24]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lisle, Illinois</span> Village in Illinois, United States

Lisle is a village in DuPage County, Illinois, United States. The population was 22,390 at the 2010 census, and in 2019 the population was recorded to be 23,270. It is part of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Illinois Technology and Research Corridor. It is also the headquarters of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission Region III.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arboretum</span> Botanical collection composed exclusively of trees

An arboretum is a botanical collection composed exclusively of trees of a variety of species. Originally mostly created as a section in a larger garden or park for specimens of mostly non-local species, many modern arboreta are in botanical gardens as living collections of woody plants and is intended at least in part for scientific study.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tallgrass prairie</span> Ecosystem native to central North America

The tallgrass prairie is an ecosystem native to central North America. Historically, natural and anthropogenic fire, as well as grazing by large mammals provided periodic disturbances to these ecosystems, limiting the encroachment of trees, recycling soil nutrients, and facilitating seed dispersal and germination. Prior to widespread use of the steel plow, which enabled large scale conversion to agricultural land use, tallgrass prairies extended throughout the American Midwest and smaller portions of southern central Canada, from the transitional ecotones out of eastern North American forests, west to a climatic threshold based on precipitation and soils, to the southern reaches of the Flint Hills in Oklahoma, to a transition into forest in Manitoba.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jens Jensen (landscape architect)</span> Danish-American landscape designer (1860–1951)

Jens Jensen was a Danish-American landscape architect.

The Brenton Arboretum is a 141-acre arboretum and public garden in Dallas Center, Iowa, United States, established in 1997. The arboretum displays 175 native Iowa trees and shrubs suitable to the site, as well as many other tree species which can grow in central Iowa. The non-profit arboretum is open to the public from 9 am to sunset on Tuesday through Sunday, featuring a collection of over 2,600 trees and shrubs on display.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ladd Arboretum</span> Botanical garden in Evanston, Illinois

The Edward R. Ladd Arboretum is an arboretum located at 2024 McCormick Boulevard, Evanston, Illinois, occupying 23 acres (9.3 ha) in a narrow .75 miles (1.21 km) stretch between McCormick Boulevard and the North Shore Channel on land leased from the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago.

Ossian Cole Simonds, often known as O. C. Simonds, was an American landscape designer. He preferred the term 'landscape gardener' to that of 'landscape architect'. A number of Simonds' works are listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places (NRHP).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Wisconsin–Madison Arboretum</span> National Historic Landmark

The University of Wisconsin–Madison Arboretum is a teaching and research facility of the University of Wisconsin–Madison and the site of historic research in ecological restoration. In addition to its 1,260 acres (5 km2) in Madison, Wisconsin, the Arboretum also manages 520 acres (210 ha) of remnant forests and prairies throughout Wisconsin. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2021, in recognition for its role as a pioneer in the field of ecological restoration.

<i>Ulmus prunifolia</i> Species of tree

Ulmus prunifoliaW. C. Cheng & L. K. Fu, the cherry-leafed elm, is a deciduous tree endemic only to the province of Hubei in central eastern China, where it is found at elevations of 1000–1500 m.

<i>Ulmus szechuanica</i> Species of tree

Ulmus szechuanicaFang, known as the Szechuan (Sichuan), or red-fruited, elm, is a small to medium deciduous Chinese tree found along the Yangtze river through the provinces of Sichuan, Jiangxi, Anhui, and Jiangsu.

<i>Ulmus</i> Morton Elm cultivar

Ulmus 'Morton' is an elm cultivar cloned from a putative intraspecific hybrid planted at the Morton Arboretum in 1924, which itself originated as seed collected from a tree at the Arnold Arboretum in Massachusetts. Although this tree was originally identified as Ulmus crassifolia, it is now believed to have been a hybrid of the Japanese elm and Wilson's elm. Accolade has proven to be the most successful cultivar tested in the US National Elm Trial, averaging a survival rate of 92.5% overall.

<i>Ulmus</i> Morton Glossy Elm cultivar

Ulmus 'Morton Glossy' is a hybrid cultivar raised by the Morton Arboretum, Illinois. Originally named 'Charisma' until it was realized that name had already been registered for another plant, the tree was derived from a crossing of two other hybrid cultivars grown at the Morton: Accolade and Vanguard. Tested in the US National Elm Trial coordinated by Colorado State University, Triumph averaged a survival rate of 86% after 10 years. Triumph was introduced to the UK in 2006 by the Frank P. Matthews nursery in Worcestershire.

Ulmus 'Morton Plainsman' is a hybrid cultivar raised by the Morton Arboretum from a crossing of Siberian Elm and a Japanese Elm grown from openly pollinated seed donated by the Agriculture Canada Research Station at Morden, Manitoba. Tested in the US National Elm Trial coordinated by Colorado State University, Vanguard averaged a survival rate of 78% after 10 years.

<i>Ulmus americana</i> Princeton American elm cultivar

The American Elm cultivar Ulmus americana 'Princeton' was originally selected in 1922 by New Jersey nurseryman William Flemer of Princeton Nurseries for its aesthetic merit. 'Princeton' was later found to have a moderate resistance to Dutch elm disease (DED).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">May Theilgaard Watts</span> American writer, illustrator, and teacher

May Petrea Theilgaard Watts was an American naturalist, writer, poet, illustrator, and educator. She was a naturalist at The Morton Arboretum in Lisle, Illinois, and author of Reading the Landscape of America.

<i>Ulmus</i> × <i>hollandica</i> Klemmer Elm cultivar

Ulmus × hollandica 'Klemmer', or Flanders Elm, is probably one of a number of hybrids arising from the crossing of Wych Elm with a variety of Field Elm, making it a variety of Ulmus × hollandica. Originating in the Bruges area, it was described by Gillekens in 1891 as l'orme champêtre des Flandres in a paper which noted its local name, klemmer, and its rapid growth in an 1878–91 trial. Kew, Henry (1913), and Krüssmann (1976) listed it as an Ulmus × hollandica cultivar, though Henry noted its "similarity in some respects" to field elm Ulmus minor, while Green went as far as to regard it as "possibly U. carpinifolia" (:minor).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joy Morton</span> American businessman (1855–1934)

Joy Sterling Morton was an American businessman and entrepreneur best known for founding Morton Salt and establishing the Morton Arboretum in Lisle, Illinois.

The hybrid elm Ulmus davidianavar.japonica × U. minor was raised at the Arnold Arboretum before 1924.

Ulmus × intermediaElowsky is a natural hybrid elm occurring across Nebraska and several other Midwestern states, derived from the crossing of Ulmus rubra and Ulmus pumila. As Red Elm U. rubra is far less fertile, and highly susceptible to Dutch elm disease (:DED), it could eventually be hybridized out of existence by U. × intermedia. The hybrid was first reported from the wild in the Chicago region in 1950 and was provisionally named U. × nothaWilhelm & Ware in 1994.

Floyd Allen Swink (1921-2000) was an American botanist, teacher of natural history, and author of several floras of the Chicago region.

References

  1. "The Morton Arboretum". Bgci.org. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  2. "The Center for Tree Science: Securing the future of trees | The Morton Arboretum". Mortonarb.org. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  3. "The Morton Arboretum recognized for excellence in ecological restoration". Archived from the original on 2017-01-18. Retrieved 2017-01-17.
  4. Mullen, William. "Arboretum turning back woodland's natural clock."
  5. Chicago Tribune, Jan. 12, 2009. p. 14.
  6. 1 2 Johnson, Steve (29 October 2014). "Morton Arboretum: Seeing the forest and the trees". Chicagotribune.com.
  7. Botts, Beth. "A breath of fresh air: new Morton Arboretum garden aims to reconnect kids and nature." Chicago Tribune, September 10, 2005, p. 23.
  8. "The Schulenberg Prairie: a Benchmark in Ecological Restoration" (PDF). Plantconservation.us. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  9. Swanson, Stevenson. "To grow a prairie, you have to return to the grass roots." Chicago Tribune, September 27, 1987, p. 1.
  10. Odigwe, Hugo (May 2, 2023). "Historic bur oak tree removal at Lincoln Park Zoo Tuesday". CBS News . Retrieved May 2, 2023.
  11. "Mission and History | The Morton Arboretum". Mortonarb.org.
  12. "Shedd Aquarium and The Morton Arboretum named new Centers for Species Survival". IUCN. 2023-03-08. Retrieved 2023-03-14.
  13. Ballowe, James. "A great outdoor museum : the story of The Morton Arboretum." Lisle, Illinois: the Arboretum, 2003.
  14. 1 2 3 4 "Mission and history | The Morton Arboretum". Mortonarb.org. Retrieved 2018-04-20.
  15. March 27, 1924 edition of University of Michigan Alumnus Magazine
  16. "Thornhill Education Center | The Morton Arboretum". Mortonarb.org. Retrieved 2018-04-20.
  17. "The Schulenberg Prairie a Benchmark in Ecological Restoration" (PDF). The Morton Arboretum: 10. September 2012.
  18. "Sterling Morton Library | The Morton Arboretum". Mortonarb.org.
  19. McCarthy, Marilou. "Memorial to her father: Mrs. Zurcher will build a library in Morton Arboretum." Chicago Daily Tribune, December 6, 1961, p. B13.
  20. "Morton Arboretum". Acorn.mortonarb.org.
  21. Kamin, Blair. "A journey through the new at The Morton Arboretum" Chicago Tribune, September 26, 2004, p. 5.
  22. 1 2 "Illumination: Tree Lights at The Morton Arboretum | The Morton Arboretum". www.mortonarb.org. Retrieved 2020-04-23.
  23. IL 60532, 4100 Illinois Route 53 Lisle. "Illumination at the Morton Arboretum". Enjoy Illinois. Retrieved 2020-04-26.
  24. 1 2 3 "About Illumination Designer John Featherstone | The Morton Arboretum". www.mortonarb.org. Retrieved 2020-04-27.