Don's Home Places California N. Central Davis UC Davis UC Davis Arboretum History

Some history of the Arboretum, including my personal connection.

• 1870-190? - The main branch of Putah Creek thru Davis was re-routed to create the South Branch.
• 1900-1919 - The Old Davis Bridge near today's Redwood Grove was built over Putah Creek.
  It carried car and wagon traffic to the Sacramento Benicia Rd. and Tremont Township in Solano County.
  The Sacramento Benicia Rd. was replaced by US-40 (1927) and then I-80 (1964). (All water from Putah Creek is diverted to the South Branch now.)
  There was a ferry there in the winter.
  It only carries foot and bike traffic now.
  
  See Arboretum Bridges
  
• 1936 The Arboretum was founded to support teaching and research at the UC Berkeleys College of Agriculture North Campus at Davis.
  The first plantings in the Arboretum took place in 1936 during Cal Aggie Labor Day. On this day, student workers planted trees and shrubs along the Waterway, spanning from the bridge on California Avenue to the Redwood Grove.
  My father was a student then, but I never heard him talk about the Arboretum.
• Due to lack of funding not much was done and most people never knew there ever was an arboretum for several decades.
• 1959-1963 An arboretum report, proposed development of the arboretum.
• 1965 at a UC Davis student workday I worked on cleaning up junk, dead limbs and shrubs along a section of stagnant Putah Creek near where Putah Creek Lodge is now for a small picnic area.
• 1962-1965 Putah creek was a frequent location for student beer busts. My recollection is a little fuzzy.
• 1965 A new bridge for Old Davis Rd was built over the Putah Creek bed/Arboretum
• 1965-2000 I'm still researching
• June 2012 - I rented Putah Creek Lodge for a wedding reception for my son Tom McBride and daughter-in-law, Brooke Babineau, both with UCD Neuroscience graduate degrees.
  
• 2017 Phase one of the UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden's Waterway improvement project began
• 2019 I moved back to California from New Jersey and joined "The Rovers" one of many cleanup volunteer crews for the Arboretum.
• 2024 - Started Phase 2 and 3 of the Arboretum Waterway Flood Protection and Habitat Enhancement Project