Edward R. Ladd Arboretum

It stretches along a three-quarter mile segment of McCormick Boulevard on a narrow, 23 acre strip of reclaimed land. It follows the diagonal course of the North Shore Channel from Greenbay Road to the northeast, to Emerson and Golf Road in the southwest.

The North Shore Channel was created as a “drainage channel”. It was designed to divert wastes from entering the lake and extends from Wilmette Harbor, through Evanston and Chicago, and empties into the Chicago River at West River Park just south of Foster. As a result the entire right-of-way of the channel is owned by the Metropolitan Sanitary District of greater Chicago, with the peripheral land, including the Ladd Arboretum, leased to local communities.

Evanstonians decided to use the land and the artificial waterway as areas of natural beauty and recreation for all. The Ladd Arboretum is an expression of this desire.

In 1959, the first tree, a ginkgo, was planted by the Evanston Review in the memory of Edward Rixon Ladd (1883-1956). Mr. Ladd was a highly respected founder, publisher, and editor of the Evanston Review. On June 10, 1960, after many other trees were planted, the Arboretum was formally dedicated as an enduring place of peace, beauty, and educational value.