Every year on the last Friday of April, Americans across the country take a moment to recognize the importance of trees in our lives as we celebrate Arbor Day. School kids, towns and communities all over hold planting ceremonies, putting new life into the soil to replace what has been harvested in years prior.

But there is an interesting back-story about the origins of Arbor Day and of its founder, Julius Sterling Morton.

Morton, along with his wife Caroline, moved from Detroit, Mich., to the (then) territory of Nebraska in 1854. Upon their arrival, the Mortons were so dismayed at the lack of trees in the landscape, once their house was built, they filled their yard with saplings, shrubs and flowers.

It wasn’t enough, but Morton had a plan …

Morton’s place of employment put him in the unique position to be able to reach out and spread his tree-planting message to people and families all across the state. Morton, you see, was a newspaper man.

In his position as editor of The Nebraska City News, Morton spread not only agricultural information to the masses but his enthusiasm for trees as well.

Nebraskans proved to be a receptive audience.

“His fellow pioneers missed their trees and needed them for windbreaks, fuel, building materials and shade from the hot prairie sun. Morton wrote and spoke about environmental stewardship and the inter-relatedness of life. He (Morton) encouraged everyone to set aside a specific day to plant trees,” the National Arbor Day Foundation (NADF) states.

According to NADF, the State Board of Agriculture finally accepted a resolution by Morton in 1872 “to set aside one day to plant trees, both forest and fruit.” The Board declared April 10 “Arbor Day” and offered prizes to both counties and individuals who planted the largest number of trees on that day.

More than one million trees were planted in Nebraska on the first Arbor Day, forever changing the landscape.

President Grover Cleveland appointed Morton as U.S. Secretary of Agriculture in 1893, making Morton the first cabinet member to hail from west of the Missouri River. He served four years as secretary of agriculture before returning to Nebraska City and going back to the newspaper business.

In addition to publishing a weekly journal called The Conservative, Morton also wrote for several newspapers based out of Chicago. Later, he served as a Washington representative for the Burlington railroad and eventually helped to establish the Nebraska State Historical Society. To most, he was still known as “The Father of Arbor Day.”

Nowadays, although the dates change depending on regional climates, Arbor Day is a world-wide phenomenon and is observed by all 50 states as well as 41 nations across the globe.