Day Trip: Trees, college architecture rolled into one

It’s a walk in the trees. It’s a walk in the breeze.

The self-guided walking tour of Frances Wood Shimer Memorial Arboretum will acquaint visitors with a portion of the 14-acre former Shimer College campus. The arboretum has more than 250 trees consisting of some 60 varieties and species. An added bonus is a look at the college buildings among those trees.

Several parking lots are available close to the walkways. After choosing a spot, it’s time to consult the walk’s map, which contains tree locations.

Here’s a sample of what visitors will be looking at: American chestnut (the star of the show – one of them is on the Illinois Big Tree Register), black walnut, pecan, paper birch, pin oak, Norway maple, shellbark hickory, tulip popular, white willow, yew, saucer magnolia, Kentucky coffee tree, gingko, Douglas fir and Siberian elm. If that’s not enough, fret not. Walkers will be able to see many more.

As they move along the path, they’ll also be stepping through history. The college’s namesake, Frances Shimer, started out with 5 acres where she planned to build a seminary.

She began to plant, with her own hands and with the help of others, 2,000 evergreens, 600 deciduous trees, 400 pears, 25 crab apples, 1,500 grapevines, 1,000 apples, 300 cherries and lots of berry canes, according to the walk’s brochure. Some of her original plantings may still be there, but no one knows for certain. Walkers can let their imagination be their guide.

This was not a woman who sat and watched. She got involved, even going back East to obtain large amounts of fruit to be shipped back to Illinois. More land was added and she saw to the work of more gardens. She even rolled up her sleeves and did physical work in the dormitories and on classroom buildings.

Shimer and Cindarella Gregory were co-proprietors until 1879 of the Mount Carroll Seminary, as it was first called, which had received a state charter in 1852, opening its doors in 1853. Shimer continued with the school until retiring due to poor health in 1897. She died in 1901. The seminary went on to become the Frances Shimer Academy of the University of Chicago in 1896.

Georgian Revival architecture reigns here. Buildings to be seen along the walk are the Music and Domestic Science Hall built in 1903, later known as Dearborn Hall. It was modernized to have steam heat.

The question with this day trip is not what is there to see, but how to take in everything at once. Give it a try though; one can always return.

THE STRUCTURES

Here's a brief look at other structures listed along the arboretum walk. Information was obtained from the Mount Carroll Sesquicentennial's "Stroll Back In Time."

• Hathaway Hall, built in 1905: by 1949, a dormitory housing 38 students, bookstore and post office in basement during 1970s

• Bennett Hall, 1909: first called College Hall, ground floor used by entire school, upper two floors housing

• Howe Hall, 1957: three-story dorm

• Tolman Hall, 1914: originally Science Hall, main floor used for home economics with five sewing machines and a glass plate to heat irons for pressing

• Maintenance building, 1906: steam plant, rebuilt in 1911

• Dezendorf Hall, 1962: With housing for 115, it was built 12 feet more to the right than planned to protect the three American chestnut trees.

• Gymnasium, 1929: 24-hour dance marathon location in 1970s

• McKee Hall, 1907: kitchen at the south side until 1922

• Infirmary, 1913: two wards, seven beds, two private rooms, two bathrooms

• Hostetter Hall, 1906: for 50 people, contained parlor, lodging on upper floors

• Campbell Library, 1925: full height porch with Corinthian columns

• Metcalf Hall, 1907: originally with chapel, offices, classrooms, assembly hall, library

• Sawyer House, 1926: president's residence

IF YOU GO

What: The Frances Wood Shimer Memorial Arboretum

Where: 203 E. Seminary St., Mount Carroll