The Dawes Arboretum was founded in 1929, over 50,000 trees had been planted and the grounds had doubled in size to 293 acres. Beman and Bertie Dawes created The Arboretum as a private foundation: “To encourage the planting of forest and ornamental trees… to give pleasure to the public and education to the youth.”

Today, The Dawes Arboretum displays nearly 5,000 different types of woody plants. Active records are kept on more than 30,000 individual plants.