This story was written and reported by Patch Regional Editor Megan Bard.
Did you know that Arbor Day dates back to 1872 and was created, pretty much, by a pioneer from Detroit names J. Sterling Morton? Neither did I.
Turns out that when Morton left Detroit for the new Nebraska territory he and his fellow pioneers missed their trees (I guess there were a lot in the city back in the day), according to the Arbor Day Foundation. Instead of just planting a few around his property, Morton, who loved nature, encouraged his neighbors and eventually everyone in Nebraska to keep planting!
Morton, a newspaper man by trade, was so vocal about the need for trees that he became the secretary of the Nebraska territory and in 1872 proposed a special day for tree planting that he called Arbor Day, according to arborday.org.
The foundation estimates that one million trees were planted on April 10, 1872 in Nebraska! That is a lot of trees.
Knowing that what we now know as Arbor Day was coming up, I couldn't help myself this week, I had to snap some pictures of the beautiful trees that are just starting to sprout leaves and bloom throughout town.
Here is a small collection of some of the photos I took from around town this week. Have some that you want to add? You're welcome to send me a copy and I'll gladly add them to the gallery.
How will you, or will you, celebrate Arbor Day? Tell us in the comment section below.
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