UIHistories Project: A History of the University of Illinois by Kalev Leetaru
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Repository: UIHistories Project: Book - 30 Year Master Plan (Tilton & O'Donnell) [PAGE 169]

Caption: Book - 30 Year Master Plan (Tilton & O'Donnell)
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J60

History of Campus Plan

sity grounds very attractive, and, particularly in the planting of trees, it has left a rich heritage. From this commendable beginning down to the present there has been a consistent effort to make the University grounds as attractive as possible. The Forestry, originally planted as a nursery for laboratory purposes, has grown into a deeply wooded area, and now forms an effective background at the east end of the new South Campus. At first the scheme of planting was naturally informal, except for rows of trees along streets and avenues, but, as the University grew, the buildings were set closer together and in formal quadrangles, and the planting scheme also became more formal, the whole ensemble taking on a studied appearance. Finally, the Campus had grown to the extent that the old plan of making landscape planting serve the double purpose of providing field laboratories and also of beautifying the campus wa& no longer adequate as a proper landscape treatment, and this method was gradually abandoned on the main portions of the Campus. Even in the early seventies it was realized by at least one member of the University, Professor T. J. Burrill, that the Campus should have landscape features other than those of a purely utilitarian character, for at that time he planted the trees along what is now known as Burrill Avenue. This Avenue has been retained as an important feature in all Campus Plans down to the present time. Mr. Blackall proposed that a similar avenue be established along the east side of the old Campus area and approximately parallel to Burrill Avenue. The Burnham Campus Plan Commission in 1912 concurred in this, and some years later a portion of this new avenue was constructed. A gift of #2,000, received in June, 1920, from Mr. Robert F. Carr, President of the Board of Trustees, made possible the planting of trees along this avenue to make it harmonize with Burrill Avenue. Another contribution to the campus planting came on April 20,1920, when one hundred and seventy-three Memorial Trees were planted on the South Campus in honor of the Gold