Children are important to the celebration of Arbor Day, so it seemed only fitting for the preschoolers from Butterhill Day School to be in attendance at the Town of Cornwall’s Arbor Day ceremony last Friday. The late morning ceremony also served to celebrate Earth Day and the 10th anniversary of the town being named a Tree City USA.
As a Tree City USA, one of the requirements is to hold an Arbor Day observance and have a proclamation read. Gathering in front of Ring’s Pond, adjacent to Hudson Street, Councilman Peter Russell read the resolution the board had approved the week prior. Supervisor Randy Clark followed up by explaining why children are so important on Arbor Day.
In 1854, J Sterling Morton moved, from Detroit, MI to Nebraska, which was only a territory at the time, with his wife. Both were lovers of nature and quickly surrounded their home with trees, shrubs, and flowers.
On Jan. 4, 1872, Morton proposed a tree-planting holiday, called “Arbor Day,” to be held on April 10 of that year. Over one millions trees were planted that day.
On March 12, 1874, Nebraska’s Governor Robert W. Furnas proclaimed April 10 to be Arbor Day. In 1885, Arbor Day was named a legal holiday in Nebraska and Morton’s birthday, April 22, was chosen as the date for its permanent observance. Today, Arbor Day is observed on the last Friday in the month of April.
During Nebraska’s first Arbor Day ceremony, children from the nearby schools were tasked with planting a tree. The students marched in a parade back to their school, and then sang, “America.”
Clark passed out lyric sheets and asked the students to join him in singing “America,” just like the students did 140 years prior. He then told them to “take a hike” over the weekend in order to appreciate the trees and the outdoors.
As part of the celebration, The Cornwall Lions Club and the Chamber of Commerce donated two trees – a dogwood to be planted along Hudson Street, and a magnolia to be planted adjacent to the Cornwall Public Library.
The preschoolers were able to observe the town’s buildings and ground crew transport the dogwood, in the loader, dig out an old tree and plant the new tree in its place.
“It’s important, as an example for all of the community, to participate in tree planting as an annual thing,” said Kathi Ellick, president of the Cornwall Conservation Advisory Committee.
The Cornwall-on-Hudson Arbor Day celebration will be featured in next week’s edition of The Cornwall Local
