History
Ann Arbor's city parks sit on the ancestral and traditional homelands of several indigenous Native peoples. Read a land acknowledgementfrom the city and learn more about the early history of the land here.
Nichols Arboretum was designed by O.C. Simonds in 1907. Now known as The Arb, it was assembled from land owned by the city, the university,and new gifts of land to the university. The peony garden started in 1922 thanks to a gift of peonies from Dr. W.E. Upjohn. The peony garden, one of the largest in North America, contains a wide variety of peonies dating back to the 19th and 20th centuries, including many cultivars that are no longer commercially available. In 2022, celebrating the 100th anniversary of the garden and Upjohn's gift, his family gave $2 million to name the gardens after him. Read more about the history of the garden and the Upjohn family gift here.
Arboretum Nature Area, under management of Nicholas Arboretum, embodies a spirit of cooperation and higher purpose inspired, and reinspired over and over again, by love of nature. For most visitors it blends unnoticeably into Nichols Arboretum, a beautiful reflection of the intention that launched the city and the university into this joint venture.
It began with the natural beauty of the land --its hills, plateau, riverfront, and glen (a narrow valley) with what was once commonly called a rill (a small stream). Farming had brought changes to the ecology not entirely in tune with nature. Still, around the turn of the twentieth century the glen with its rill continued to speak of unbridled nature. Surrounding farmland offered diverse growing conditions, with hills and valley and, in addition, there was extensive riverfront.
Such was the scene when an agreement between several parties set in motion the joint venture to create and sustain a botanical garden and arboretum for the university and for city schools. How this unusual arrangement came about and unfolded through time makes for a unique and interesting history trail to follow. History notes on the land acquisition, from research done in 1988, provide additional insights.
