Saturday June 15 Program

On Saturday, June 15, Brett Myers will be speaking to the Battle Creek Regional History Museum (BCRHM) about the history of the community’s horticultural treasure, the Leila Arboretum.

Myers is the executive director of the Leila Arboretum Society (LAS) that was established in 1981, when a group of local gardening enthusiasts and community supporters created the organization to help preserve, maintain and improve the arboretum, located on West Michigan Avenue.

The arboretum was originally established in 1922, when Leila Y. Post Montgomery (the widow of cereal post magnate, C.W. Post) donated the 72 acre, former Battle Creek Country Club to the city with the intention to create a park-like repository of nature for the community. The original plan was to include every type of tree that can thrive in Michigan soil inside its boundries.
In 1924, landscape architect, T. Clifton Shepherd, was hired to create and institute a master plan for the arboretum (he also worked on creating Battle Creek’s Irving Park). His plans were delayed by the advent of the Great Depression, and progress was slow at the city park for many years.

The Kingman Museum was built in 1931 as a gift to the city from the Kingman family, and was designed by local architect A.B. Chanel. The natural history museum was planned to be the first of many cultural buildings that were going to be built on the hill above the arboretum, that were to include an auditorium, along with an art and local history museum.

The Leila Arboretum is owned and partially maintained by the City of Battle Creek as part of its parks system. LAS is under contract with the city to manage the arboretum’s more than 3,000 trees, shrubs, perennials and annuals…many of which are living memorials and/or tributes to special friends.

In recent years, the Leila Arboretum has seen many improvements to the facilities and to the plantings, that have included a beautiful pool and fountain at the park’s entrance gate, a Peace Labrynth, a Children’s Garden (that includes the cupola from the Battle Creek Sanitarium’s Fieldstone Building along with a hot air balloon replica), greenhouses, sculptural artwork, a ‘magical garden’ created by artists carving stumps of trees into works of art, a performance shell, and large meeting pavilion.

Fundraisers for the LAS have include plant sales, entrance fees to the Children’s Garden and even a Leila Arboretum Calendar in 2008 that featured tasteful photos of naturally clad (nude) members of the society…along with membership dues and donations.

The Battle Creek Mustache Society has teamed up with the LAS to hold an annual outdoor summer music concert named ‘Leila-palooza’ along with a yearly winter event (that includes a sled/toboggan/cardboard vehicle contest) called ‘Festivus’. These events bring new patrons to the arboretum throughout the year.

The LAS is a non-profit 501©3 corporation and has created many worthwhile projects that have included spearheading the BC Green projects, that bring the knowledge and advice of horticulture to local neighborhoods.
They also oversee and Master Gardner program and sponsor growing and gardening classes.

Myers program about the arboretum will be held at 3:00 PM at the BCRHM, located at 307 West Jackson Street, phone number 269-964-0750. Admission is free, and light snacks will be served.