The celebration began with Julius Sterling Morton, who had grown up in Michigan and moved into the Nebraska Territory in 1854 (which then was more or less a treeless plain). Morton not only missed the trees, shrubs and flowers of Michigan, but also saw the agricultural value of trees as windbreakers, soil protectors, and as a source of fuel and building materials.
Morton became the editor of Nebraska's first newspaper which gave him a forum to encourage tree-planting. At his initiative, Nebraska had the first "Arbor Day" on April 10, 1872. Prizes were given to counties and individuals who planted the most trees. It was estimated that over one million trees were planted in Nebraska on the first Arbor Day.
The custom quickly spread to other states, even other countries. In 1970, President Richard Nixon proclaimed the last Friday in April as National Arbor Day.
Perhaps the popularity of Arbor Day is due to the fact that trees are peaceful creatures of the earth, stable and dependable. The Psalms use the tree as a symbol of a good person who "is like a tree planted near streams of water, that yields its fruit in season, its leaves never wither." (Psalm 1:3)
- Little White Book, Diocese of Saginaw