Timeline of T.R.’s Arbor Days
Arbor Day had no national date in Theodore Roosevelt’s lifetime, so each entry below carries the date the event actually happened. Read the full story at Arbor Day with Theodore Roosevelt.
THE FIRST ARBOR DAY
Nebraska observed the first Arbor Day, proposed by J. Sterling Morton. An estimated one million trees or more were planted that day.
A GOVERNOR’S PROCLAMATION
In Albany, Governor Roosevelt proclaimed Arbor Day for Friday, May 4. New York's schoolchildren, he noted, had planted more than 200,000 trees in ten years, and in most of the state "no tree ought ever to be cut down unless two are planted in its place."
FORESTS FOR THE SANDHILLS
President Roosevelt created the Niobrara and Dismal River Forest Reserves in Nebraska's treeless Sandhills, following botanist Charles Bessey's plan to plant a forest there. In 1908 they became part of the Nebraska National Forest.
THE FOUNDER DIES
J. Sterling Morton, the founder of Arbor Day, died at Lake Forest, Illinois.
LAND FOR TREE PLANTING
An executive order reserved more Nebraska public land "for the use of the Department of Agriculture for purposes in connection with experimental tree planting."
"THE FOUNDER OF ARBOR DAY"
At Grand Island, Nebraska, T.R. praised the state's planted groves and named "the late ex-Secretary Sterling Morton" as "the founder of Arbor Day." Later that day in Hastings, he paid tribute again to Morton's "interest in tree culture."
A TREE FOR THE CHILDREN
At Campbell, California, T.R. took part in a tree planting before local schoolchildren. "It is a great pleasure to take part in planting this tree in the presence of the children…" he said.
GREETINGS FOR SAN DIEGO
At San Diego's first Arbor Day, in City Park, now Balboa Park, thousands of schoolchildren gathered while representatives of their classes planted pines and cypresses. Kate Sessions helped organize the planting. The President's greetings, in a letter dated the day before, were read to the children.
A LETTER TO EVERY SCHOOLCHILD
From the White House, T.R. wrote to the schoolchildren of the United States, sent through the school officers of every State and Territory. A forest, he wrote, is "a factory of wood, and at the same time a reservoir of water."
A THANK-YOU TO MORTON’S SON
Paul Morton, J. Sterling Morton's son and T.R.'s former Secretary of the Navy, had written on April 15 to praise the Arbor Day message. T.R. wrote back to thank him.
ON THE FRONT PAGE
Newspapers across the country reprinted the letter. South Carolina's Edgefield Advertiser ran it on page one under the headline "What Arbor Day Means to the School Children."
From the Archives
Letters, photographs and papers about Arbor Day from the Theodore Roosevelt Center’s digital library.