"TOWN AND GOWN"
A LOOK AT AN IMPORTANT INGREDIENT IN THE EARLY LIFE PROCESS OF A COLLEGE—TREE PLANTING AT HASTINGS COLLEGE
On Arbor Day, 1883, 149 citizens of the newly founded city of Hastings gathered for the celebration of the birthday of J. Sterling Morton (the Nebraska citizen who founded Arbor Day), just eleven years after the initial celebration of this important festival. With the group were several wagons piled high with trees.
Marching to the bleak twenty acres of prairieland recently given to the College for a campus, the group immediately began to plant the 226 trees they brought with them.
Everyone planted at least one tree, while a score of persons planted two or three of the young saplings, half a dozen came prepared to contribute four or five trees, and several persons contributed multiple trees of varying kinds – with one family supplying twenty-one of the young trees.
The names of the persons in that group of inspired tree planters have gone down in the history of the College, for it was their farsightedness that made possible the transition of the College campus from a desolate bit of prairie to a beautiful tree-filled area.
For many years the list persons planting trees on that Arbor Day was lost. Finally, Dr. George White, a member of the first College faculty, and later President of Anatolia College in Greece, discovered it among his belongings and sent it to P.L. Johnson, Secretary of the College Board of Trustees.
The thirty-three varieties of trees planted on that day are as follows: Ash, Austrian Pine, Balm of Gilead, Black Walnut, Box Elder, Butternut, Catalpa, Cedar, Cherry, Coffee Tree, Cottonwood, Crab Apple, Dogwood, Elm, Evergreen, Hackberry, Hemlock, Honey Locust, Horse Chesnut, Irish Juniper, Linden, Maple (Hard), Maple (Soft), Poplar, Plum, Russian Mulberry, Scotch Pine, Spruce, Sycamore, Walnut, Weeping Willow, White Birch, and White Pine.Names of Hastings Citizens Contributing Trees for the College Campus on Arbor Day, 1883
| Viola Abbott S.A. Alexander D. Bennett Geo. A. Birdsall Catie M. Birdsall Miss A.L. Bremer A.L. Brewer J.W. Brewster Miss E.C. Brobst A.H. Brown Kate Brown J.A. Cline Molly Cline W.M. Cline W.F.J.Conley Lydia Connely Dr. Cook R. Covert Mamie Cox Geo C. Crafford Leonia Crafford I.W. Cramer Ida A. Cramer C.J. Davis Geo. Delagneau Ike L. Doyt Mrs. Duncan F.R. Dugan H.S. Dugan A.F. Farrell Ella Farrell T.E. Farrell Mrs. T.E. Farrell Miss H. Fay L.H. Felt J. Fisher Rev. John Fleming Mrs. R.C. Fleming Paul Fowler A.C. Fowlie A.H. Fowlie Peter Fowlie Leopold Hahn L.J. Halstead Nannie Hamill J.H. Hanson Mr. Harlocker Adelle Haynes Edie Haynes Chas. Heartwell |
J.B. Heartwell Jamie Heartwell Mrs. S.J. Heartwell O.F. Heartwell O.B. Hewett C.H. Hurd G.C. Hutchinson G.T. Hutchinson J.C. Hutchinson Stephen D. Hutchinson V.S. Jaynes C.S. Jaynes Cally Johnson Simon Kelly Knodle Brothers Mr. Langevin Mrs. C.K. Lawson Herman Lehmann W.K. Lewis D.L. Lowman Mary Lowman Chas. McCorkle T.J. McCully J.E. McPherson Grace Melville Mr. Morledge A.S. Newsom H.G. Newsom Ada F. Nolan Alice Nolan P.Nolan O.Oliver E. Owens L.M. Palmer L.B. Palmer Katie E. Pearl C.E. Peck Mr. Peterson Chas Plamondin Chas. Powers Ella Powers Mary Powers Robert Powers G.H. Pratt Mrs. H. Pratt A.D. Ranney Anna Richards J.E. Richards W.C. Ridley Mrs. Callie Ringland |
Mrs. W.F. Ringland Paul F. Ringland C.C. Rittenhouse Ella Royce J.H. Scales D.S. Schaff Miss Shedd L. Siegman Mr. Siegman Marion Smith M.R. Smith W.A. Smith Dr. Sowers A.Stauffer C.L. Stone C.E. Struve Mrs. Alma Taggert O. Thatcher Tip Thatcher Dick Thompson Miss Thompson W.E. Ulmer A.R. Van Sickle J.H. Vandermark Geo. Volland Rosa Walker Sam Way E.C. Webster W.B. Webster Mrs. W.B. Webster G.E. White A.L. Wigton Mrs. M.A. Wigton Clara Wigton G.A. Wigton Harry Wigton J.W. Wigton Willie Wigton A.C. Williams A.D. Williams G.T. Williams Mary H. Williams J.M. Wilson T.B. Wisdom G.F. Woodbury W. Woolman Leta Yarger Alice Yocum Captain Yocum |