A living museum on campus, featuring flowers and trees, will finally begin to bloom this winter after many dormant years in the planning stages.

Penn State announced May 18 the donation of $10 million by alumnus and State College resident Charles H. "Skip" Smith to begin the first phase of construction on the Arboretum at Penn State.

"[The arboretum is] really going to be a wonderful place for our community, our students, our faculty and our staff," Penn State spokesman Geoff Rushton said. "We're fortunate with our location that we're able to include our natural environment."

The arboretum has been in major planning stages since 1994, but various degrees of discussion have been going on for nearly a century, beginning in 1914.

"This is a huge step," said Kim Steiner, director of the arboretum. "Basically, this gets the arboretum going."

A Budding Idea

Once completed, the Arboretum at Penn State will span a 370-acre piece of land bound by Park Avenue, College Heights, Overlook Heights and the Mount Nittany Expressway.

Steiner said the size of a normal arboretum varies, but Penn State's would be one of the largest in the country.

The first phase of construction will be located on Mitchell Tract -- the 56 acres encompassing most of the space between Bigler and Shortlidge roads that is bordered by Park Avenue.

The Mitchell Tract will become the main section of the arboretum, including a rose and fragrance garden, demonstration garden, conservatory terrace, overlook pavilion, event lawn and parking lot.

For further details, go to www.arboretum.psu.edu.

Steiner said the various types of trees and plants that will be in the arboretum will help to increase students' knowledge.

"The whole purpose is education," he said. "If you build something like this without an underlying purpose of education, then all you have is a park."

Greenhouse Effect

Currently, the space is primarily used for football parking, but Bob Hudzik, Athletic Field Supervisor, said they are not worried about losing the space at this time.

"We don't anticipate any problems until next year," Hudzik said.

Because of the large-scale construction necessary to build the arboretum, other options for parking will be explored to continue an equal amount of space for the demand.

"We will abide by what they are going to allow us to use," Hudzik said. "We're hoping we'll be able to compensate for what is being used."

Steiner said creating the arboretum will be a lengthy process and many donations are still needed to complete it. She added that the first stages of construction should begin in January.
"It won't look like a botanical garden until spring 2009," he said. "We're in a position to begin."

Behind the Green

Charles Smith made the donation in honor of his father Harry O. "H.O." Smith, also a Penn State alumnus.

"I've been thinking about the arboretum for a long time ... ever since I knew it was getting started," said Charles Smith. "I felt that now was the time to donate."

Charles Smith graduated from Penn State in 1948 with a degree in electrical engineering. In 1950, he founded State College Television Co., now State College Audio-Visual Supply, and began working with his father's real estate development and rental company, H.O. Smith and Sons, in 1951.

H.O. Smith graduated from Penn State in 1920 and worked in the department of architectural engineering faculty before starting the State College Construction Co.