Nichols Arboretum

Nichols Arboretum, locally known as the Arb,^[1]: 22 is an arboretum on the campus of the University of Michigan, in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The Arb is located adjacent to the Huron River, and features over 400 species, including 110 species of trees, in a varied, hilly landscape.^[2] A signature feature of Nichols Arboretum is the W. E. Upjohn Peony Garden, which features the largest collection of heirloom peonies in North America.^[3]

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Nichols Arboretum
The Arb
View of the Main Valley, showing a subtly designed "long view" of the surrounding landscape
Location	Ann Arbor, Michigan
Coordinates	42.28131°N 83.72329°W / 42.28131; -83.72329 / 42.28131; -83.72329][[Category:Pages using gadget WikiMiniAtlas]]"},"html":"Coordinates: </templatestyles>\"}' data-mw='{\"name\":\"templatestyles\",\"attrs\":{\"src\":\"Module:Coordinates/styles.css\"},\"body\":{\"extsrc\":\"\"}}'/>42°16′53″N 83°43′24″W / 42.28131°N 83.72329°W / 42.28131; -83.72329"}">
Area	128 acres (52 ha)
Established	1907 (1907)
Operated by	University of Michigan
Website	mbgna.umich.edu/nichols-arboretum

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Nichols Arboretum was designed by noted American landscape gardener and University of Michigan alumnus O. C. Simonds, and opened in 1907. The 128-acre (52 ha) arboretum is named for Esther Connor Nichols and her husband Walter, who donated part of the land for the arboretum in 1906.^[4][1]: 15

Plans drawn for the original campus of the University of Michigan, dating back to the 1830s, showed the university's desire for a large botanical garden on the main campus. These plans were never implemented, and the first botanical garden at the university was not established until 1897.^[5][1]: 15

A deep ravine, leading down from Forest Hill Cemetery to the Huron River, was left undeveloped as the surrounding land was converted to farmland in the 19th century. By the 1850s, the ravine was referred to as "Schoolgirls' Glen," likely for the pupils of a girls' school who gathered flowers there. Schoolgirls' Glen became popular as a retreat for university students, due to its location close to campus. The glen's beauty inspired an 1875 anonymous opinion piece in a student newspaper, which read in part that “no person with any poetry in his soul can walk from the second railroad bridge north to Schoolgirls’ Glen without rhyming all the way.”^[6][7]

The City of Ann Arbor formed a parks commission in 1905, headed by university botany professor George C. Burns. In one of its first property acquisitions, the parks commission purchased part of Schoolgirls' Glen from the Mummery family in July 1906. Months later, Esther and Walter Nichols donated their adjacent 27-acre (11 ha) farm to the university, with the stipulation that it be used as a botanical garden.^[6][8] The city and the university reached an agreement shortly afterwards, proposed by Burns, where the university would create and manage a botanical garden and arboretum on the combined land, and the city would build roads and provide policing.^[5] The arboretum opened to the public in 1907, with only limited improvements.^[1]: 17

Improvements to the arboretum began quickly, with plans drawn up by the Chicago-based firm of O. C. Simonds in 1906. Simonds' plans were subtle, using the existing natural landscape of the site. Simonds' design creates vanishing points in the landscape from the perspective of the park visitor, which he described as "long views." The largest example of the "long view" in the Arboretum is the Main Valley, a valley at the center of the property whose view leads to a tree-filled horizon.^[8][1]: 22 The signature feature of the "long view" is also present in Simonds' iconic designs in Chicago's Lincoln Park and Graceland Cemetery.^[9][10]

The new arboretum and botanical garden was popular with the public, but the university's botany faculty were displeased with the site. The hilly terrain prevented the construction of greenhouses for advanced plant research, and the botany faculty secured a site for a new botanical garden on Iroquois Road, south of the city, in 1914. Responsibility for the site was transferred to the landscape architecture faculty for use solely as an arboretum, and the site was officially named the Nichols Arboretum in 1922.^[1]: 17

University of Michigan Medical School alumnus William E. Upjohn donated his personal collection of peonies to the arboretum in 1922, and the collection formed the basis of a peony garden that opened in 1927. Of the 280 cultivars donated by Upjohn, 196 varieties survive a century later. Additions to the peony collection have made it the largest collection of heirloom peonies in North America, with approximately 350 cultivars, blooming in late May and early June.^[3][11]

Despite the continued popularity of the arboretum, the continuing development of the surrounding area began to cause conflict. In the 1920s and 1930s, the arboretum was proposed as the site of a new winter sports park. This proposal was countered under the administration of university president Alexander G. Ruthven in the mid-1930s, but further issues arose with the expansion of the university in the 1950s.^[1]: 19

The expansion of the university, including the construction of Mary Markley Hall and the C.S. Mott Children's Hospital, and the further development of Forest Hill Cemetery, created large impervious surfaces uphill of the arboretum. This expansion greatly increased the runoff of rainwater through Schoolgirls' Glen. New storm drains emptied directly into the glen, sending soil into the Huron River and washing away plants. Inaction by the city, the university, and private landowners allowed the erosion to continue for decades, until erosion control measures were installed in the early 2000s.^[6][12]

Additional classroom and administrative space at the Arb was added in 1999, with the opening of the James D. Reader Jr. Urban Environmental Education Center. The education center is located in the historic Nathan Burnham House, which was built in 1837 in Ann Arbor's Lower Town neighborhood.^[13] The brick house was moved approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) north to the arboretum in February 1998, making way for an expansion of the Kellogg Eye Center.^[14]

Shakespeare in the Arb, an annual presentation of Shakespeare plays in the Arboretum, began in 2000, founded by University of Michigan Residential College drama professor Kate Mendeloff. Each scene is presented in a different location within the Arb, without the use of scenery or stage lighting, and with inevitable interruptions from wildlife, park visitors, weather, and the sounds of the nearby hospital.^[15] The first scene of each production is customarily presented in the Peony Garden while it is in full bloom. Mendeloff died in 2023, shortly before the opening of the program's 21st season.^[16]

The university's Matthaei Botanical Gardens, which moved out of the arboretum in the 1910s, and again to a larger site in 1960, were administratively reunited with the arboretum in 2004. The new Matthaei Botanical Gardens and Nichols Arboretum department manages the university's research forests and farms, and coordinates academic and cultural programming between the arboretum and the botanical gardens.^[17][18]

• Matthaei Botanical Gardens
• List of botanical gardens in the United States