It was my first visit to the Fullerton Arboretum. I’ve heard of it before,
but somehow never made a photography outing there until now. Have I been
missing a treat! This 26 acre jewel is packed with trails, trees,
flowers, lakes and streams, benches to rest on, along with full facilities
including a museum, classrooms, nursery, and plant sales area. Not all of
these were open today during my visit, but that didn’t dampen my enthusiasm and
the main attraction (for me anyway) was all the outside areas. There is
also a historical house on the property referred to as Heritage House.
Here's some history of the arboretum based on their website...(http://fullertonarboretum.org/home.php)
In
the fall of 1970, a group of faculty members and a group of students at Orange
State College (later to become California State University, Fullerton) began to
discuss the idea of a arboretum to be developed on a parcel of land at the
northern end of the campus. Most of the area was a field of wild mustard along
with diseased citrus trees. A group called the Arboretum Committee was formed
and to everyone’s surprise and delight won a Disneyland Community Service Award
for its environmental efforts. In 1971 the Associated Students of Cal State
College began a drive to raise funds for the future project. In the following
year, after substantial lobbying by interested citizens, the California State
University Trustees considered setting aside land for a future botanical
garden, the first of its kind on university land in the state. This was
followed by the formation of an Arboretum Society which began a series of
fund-raising activities on campus to build a fund for the future botanical
garden. Originally, planning for the project was passed to students and faculty
at sister CSU campus, Cal Poly, Pomona where landscape design and related
fields were part of the curriculum.
On
Sunday, December 11, 1977, Dr. C. Eugene Jones presided over a formal ceremony
which included a flag raising by Boy Scout Troop #74, music by the Orange
Empire Barbershop Chorus and speakers CSUF President L. Donald Shields and City
of Fullerton Mayor Duane Winters. The groundbreaking was led by Commission
President Martha McCarthy, Teri Jones of the Friends and other commissioners.
When trees were sought for foresting the grounds in the early 1970’s, a program
called Trees for Arboretum Growth, TAG, was begun and hundreds of memorial
trees were planted. Although the grounds were open to the public before that
time, the official opening ceremonies and ribbon-cutting took place on Sunday,
October 21, 1979.
For
some years the Friends supported plans to build a Visitors Center on the
grounds to include areas for community use, a museum and classrooms. A new
nursery/greenhouse and plant sales area was completed in 2004. With support
from the city, generous private donors and civic groups the long anticipated
groundbreaking was held and construction of the Visitors Center begun in the
fall of 2004, fittingly during the 25th anniversary year of the official
opening of the Arboretum to the community.
I
hope you enjoy this variety of photographs from my outing. My full
collection can be viewed on my website gallery at: http://www.costamesaphotography.com/OC-Orange-County/Fullerton
