“Other holidays repose on the past. Arbor Day proposes the future.” — J. Sterling Morton

J. Sterling and Caroline Morton lived at Arbor Lodge, although not quite in its present-day form.

The couple came from Detroit in 1854, the same year the Nebraska Territory was officially started, according to accounts compiled by the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission. They lived for a short time in Bellevue before moving south to Nebraska City, where Sterling Morton became editor of the Nebraska City News.

In 1855, the couple acquired a 160-acre property and built a four-room house, reportedly the first frame structure between the Missouri River and Denver.

The couple loved nature and trees, so they felt compelled to alter the prairie landscape that surrounded them. Morton dug up trees from the only places he could find them — river and creek bottoms. Caroline Morton planted the trees and designed the drives, walks and gardens. They cultivated the area’s first apple orchard in 1858.

“It was her pride and joy,” said Virginia Ott of Nebraska City, referring to Caroline’s attachment to the house and grounds. The retired school librarian wrote a book about the Mortons titled “Sterling’s Carrie” in 1989.

Although the couple loved trees for their aesthetic beauty, Morton also viewed their plantings as a demonstration project, a way of  convincing doubters that trees could grow on the prairie. He saw trees as a raw material that was essential for the long-term success of white settlement on the grasslands.

Morton’s crusade combined with an interest in politics inspired him to take several leadership roles in the territorial government. His influence continued after Nebraska became a state in 1867. He was president of the State Board of Agriculture and, despite unsuccessful runs  for governor, he served as U.S. secretary of agriculture for President Grover Cleveland from 1893 to 1896.

In 1872, he introduced a resolution before the Nebraska Agriculture Board to start a holiday encouraging tree planting. Held in the spring, the first commemoration of Arbor Day inspired Nebraskans to plant one million trees.

Arbor Day became an official state holiday in 1885 and it is now celebrated in every state. National Arbor Day falls on the last Friday of April, although it is observed on different dates in different states, depending upon the best time to plant trees. This year in Nebraska, it will be celebrated on Friday.

While Morton frequently traveled for his political pursuits, Caroline Morton managed the family farm and raised their four sons. The house saw significant additions in 1864, 1878, 1879 and 1882. In each case, the house’s former exterior walls simply became new interior walls and none of the original structures was demolished.

Caroline Morton died in 1881 at the age of 47 from complications of a leg infection. Morton died in 1902 at the age of 70. Both are buried in Wyuka Cemetery in Nebraska City.

Joy Morton, their oldest son, made a fortune in salt and helped found a salt company that still bears his name.

After the death of his father, Joy Morton inherited Arbor Lodge and used it as a summer home. Under his direction, the porticos and stucco exterior were added to the house and the terraced Italian garden was added to the grounds, Kemper said.

When Joy Morton was done with the final renovation, the room count had climbed to 52 and the square footage was nearly 22,000.

Arbor Lodge hosted its most distinguished visitor in 1905 when the former President Cleveland spent a night during a visit for a memorial dedication in honor of J. Sterling Morton.

It’s also possible that President Theodore Roosevelt may have visited the mansion, if not stayed, Kemper said. The president traveled through Nebraska and had a direct connection to the Morton family: Paul Morton, Sterling and Caroline’s second born, was Roosevelt’s secretary of the Navy.

Arbor Lodge became property of the citizens of Nebraska in 1923, when Joy Morton gave the house and surrounding grounds to the state. On Sept. 25 of that year, it became Nebraska’s second state park, Kemper said. Chadron State Park in northwest Nebraska became the first a month earlier.

Arbor Lodge is still managed by the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission. About two-thirds of the park’s funding comes from revenue raised by entry permit sales and other statewide park fees. Most of the rest comes from a general-fund appropriation, said Fox, the park superintendent.

Many of the mansion’s features and furnishings are original, but where restorations have been done, curators have tried to copy original designs, fabric choices and colors.

The Mortons favored trees and leaf motifs plus the tones of earth and sky, as if they were trying to bring the outside in, Kemper said.

Some popular features of the mansion include the open staircase inside the front entrance, the Tiffany glass ceiling in the sun room, the natural woodwork throughout and the fine examples of Victorian, Empire and mission furnishings.

Jean Lattner Palmer of San Francisco is a great-granddaughter of J. Sterling and Caroline Morton. An interior designer by profession and long supporter of Arbor Lodge, Palmer said the mansion is both resplendent and approachable.

“It’s handsome, it’s inviting,” she said. “They’ve done a great job replicating things as close to history as possible.

“But it’s also a very happy place where children can run around and nobody would care.”

Amid the 52 rooms and furnishings, visitors can make lots of little discoveries, such as China hand-painted by Caroline Morton, a bowling alley with wooden balls tucked in the basement and a German Bible published in 1815.

“I feel incredibly blessed every day that this community has something like that right here,” said Tammy Partsch, vice president of the Friends of the Arbor Lodge Foundation.

Over a century since Joy Morton last renovated Arbor Lodge, a project was recently completed that will help ensure the mansion’s future.

While replacing a roof, updating wiring and painting the exterior aren’t as dramatic as building porticos and terraced gardens, it’s important work that had to be done, said Fox.

The project cost $590,000. The Game and Parks Commission obtained $250,000 in a grant by “Save America’s Treasures,” a program of the National Park Service and National Trust for Historic Preservation. Each year, the program awards one grant per state, Fox said.

Nebraska lawmakers budgeted $160,000 for the project and the Game and Parks Commission contributed the remaining $180,000.

Roofing was the major component of the project. The gravel and tar on the flat portions were replaced with an industrial synthetic membrane. The wooden shingles were replaced with a plastic composite shaped and colored to look like the mansion’s original slate gray shingles.

The new shingles cost about $6,000 more than wood. But they are rated to last 70 years, compared to about 25 for wood shingles, Fox said.

About one-third of the house still had what is called knob and tube wiring. Running wires through ceramic tubing may have been the best method from the19th century, but it had become a fire hazard over the years, Fox said.

The project also included painting the exterior stucco walls, windows and shutters.

Work began in 2005 and was mostly finished in recent weeks, just in time for the 2007 visitation season.

Managers and supporters of Arbor Lodge are very pleased with the project. Now they have their sights set on maintenance work in the 1903 carriage house.

“It’s like living in an older house,” Kemper said. “There’s always something you can find to replace.”

Reach Joe Duggan at 473-7239 or jduggan@journalstar.com.

Arbor Lodge

State Historical Park in Nebraska City

Hours:

Until May 25— 11 a.m.-5 p.m.

May 26-Sept. 3— 10 a.m.-5 p.m.            

Sept. 4-Oct. 21— 11 a.m.-5 p.m.

Fees: $3 for adults, $1 for kids 3-12, free for kids 2 and under. State park entry permit required to enter the park or visit the arboretum

Annual visitation: About 100,000

Arbor Day events: The Nebraska City planning committee has organized a day of activities for Saturday, April 28, including a 1 p.m. parade, 3 p.m. tree plantings at Arbor Lodge State Historical Park and a 6 p.m. barbecue at Wildwood Park. Go to www.nebraskacity.com for more information and events.

More info:

For more information on Arbor Lodge, go to www.OutdoorNebraska.org and click on state parks.

For more information on Arbor Day,visit the National Arbor Day Foundation at www.arborday.org

NEBRASKA CITY — Arbor Lodge represents a grand example of colonial revival architecture, a memorial to an important historical figure and the birthplace of an environmental holiday that started in Nebraska and spread across the nation.

But it’s also a house — a really big, really old house.

Arbor Lodge has three levels, 52 rooms,  three porticos with soaring pillars, dozens of windows, skylights, a widow’s walk and a multi-level roof.

The Nebraska City mansion also has some serious age. Constructed in stages starting in 1855, the final addition was completed in 1903. In other words, the house ranges from 152 to 104 years old.

All of this means the maintenance costs of Arbor Lodge are like any house — except bigger.

“Have you seen the movie ‘Money Pit?’” asked Randy Fox, superintendent of Arbor Lodge State Historical Park, while speaking recently to a tour group.

Fox, who has spent nearly three decades at the park, wasn’t being derisive. He loves Arbor Lodge as much as anyone, but maintaining historic homes costs a lot of money. And people tend to embrace such maintenance with the same enthusiasm they would have for putting a new roof on their own homes.

Supporters of Arbor Lodge found a way to get major maintenance done in time for this year’s visitation season. And as Nebraska prepares to celebrate the 135th Arbor Day on Friday, the old Nebraska City mansion is ready now and for many Arbor Days to come.

“I think the house looks fantastic,” said Mark Kemper, assistant superintendent of the park. “I’m guessing it’s the best (the house has looked) in 15 years.”