# Landscape Arboretum *Place; the University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum at Chaska, Carver County, Minnesota* The **Landscape Arboretum**, formally the University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, is an arboretum of the [[University of Minnesota]] at 3675 Arboretum Drive in [[Chaska]], Carver County, [[Minnesota]].[^1] It is part of the Department of Horticultural Science in the University's College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences. Wikipedia gives its extent as 1,200 acres.[^1] The Minnesota Historical Society's MNopedia traces its institutional chain through three dates. The first is the Horticultural Research Center of 1907. The second is the founding of the Arboretum in 1958. The third is an administrative merger in 1987.[^2] The project's at-issue record carries one pair on the Arboretum. Pair AI-Carver-034 states that the University owns 1,200 acres in Carver County. It describes the Arboretum as a unit of a state university college, "answerable to the Board of Regents and to no Carver County voter".[^3] The pack carries no audit, finding, filing or complaint concerning the Arboretum. The record does not establish anything about its governance beyond the structural facts the pair states.[^3] ## What The Arboretum is a unit of the Department of Horticultural Science, within the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences of the University of Minnesota.[^1] MNopedia places the 1907 Horticultural Research Center at the start of its institutional chain.[^2] Wikipedia credits the Horticultural Research Center with producing the Honeycrisp apple and the Northern Lights azaleas.[^1] ## When - **1853**: Peter Miller Gideon homesteaded on Lake Minnetonka, according to MNopedia's account of the Arboretum's antecedents.[^2] - **1868**: Gideon bred the "Wealthy" apple.[^2] - **1878**: The Minnesota State Horticultural Society founded the Minnetonka Fruit Farm on 116 acres.[^2] - **1907**: The Society petitioned for a fruit breeding farm connected to the University's Horticulture Department. It acquired 78 acres west of Excelsior. Wikipedia dates the Horticultural Research Center to the same year.[^2][^1] - **1920–1931**: Further purchases raised the holdings to 230 acres.[^2] - **1958**: Leon C. Snyder founded the Arboretum proper on 160 acres.[^1][^2] - **1987**: MNopedia records an administrative merger in the institutional chain.[^2] ## Where The Arboretum stands at 3675 Arboretum Drive, Chaska, in Carver County.[^1] The county around it was established on February 20, 1855 and organized in March 1855. The Carver County Historical Society's driving tour gives the county's area as 376 square miles. It names [[San Francisco Township]] as the first county seat.[^4] ## How much - **1,200 acres**: the Arboretum's present extent, as given by Wikipedia. Pair AI-Carver-034 gives the same figure for University holdings in Carver County.[^1][^3] - **160 acres**: the Arboretum proper at its founding in 1958.[^1] - **230 acres**: the holdings after the 1920–1931 purchases.[^2] - **78 acres**: the land acquired west of Excelsior in 1907.[^2] - **116 acres**: the Minnetonka Fruit Farm in 1878.[^2] ## How many Wikipedia lists more than 5,000 plant varieties at the Arboretum. The source is undated, so the count is stated as of that source.[^1] ## In the at-issue record Pair AI-Carver-034 belongs to the Carver package. It is ranked 34 in *Block B — The Founding Document (Pairs 23–40)*. The pair is drawn from the *Carver County Institutional History Spine* (2026-09-02).[^3] It sets two things side by side: - the University of Minnesota's 1,200 acres in Carver County; - the Arboretum's place inside the county as a unit of a state university college, governed by the University's [[Board of Regents]].[^3] The pair is anchored to a March 2026 presidential action, *Establishing the Task Force to Eliminate Fraud*.[^3] The project's stated reason for the anchor is "land inside a jurisdiction, governed entirely outside it".[^3] The anchor document is cited as the pair's anchor only. The pack does not show that it mentions the Arboretum or the University.[^3] ## In the Minnesota record ### Where - The Arboretum is at 3675 Arboretum Drive, Chaska, Carver County.[^1] - Carver County was established on February 20, 1855, and organized in March 1855.[^4] ## Notes [^1]: Wikipedia, *University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum* (undated; via dossier notes 46 and 53) — address at 3675 Arboretum Drive, Chaska; 1,200 acres; unit of the Department of Horticultural Science, College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences; Horticultural Research Center dated to 1907; Arboretum proper founded in 1958 by Leon C. Snyder on 160 acres; over 5,000 plant varieties; Honeycrisp apples and Northern Lights azaleas. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Minnesota_Landscape_Arboretum [^2]: Minnesota Historical Society, *MNopedia: University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum* (undated; via dossier notes 46 and 52) — institutional chain from the 1907 Horticultural Research Center through the 1958 founding and the 1987 administrative merger; Gideon homestead (1853) and "Wealthy" apple (1868); Minnetonka Fruit Farm on 116 acres (1878); 1907 petition and 78-acre acquisition; 230 acres after the 1920–1931 purchases. https://www.mnhs.org/mnopedia/search/index/place/university-minnesota-landscape-arboretum [^3]: Minnesota wiki project, *At-issue pair AI-Carver-034* (Carver package, rank 34; source *Carver County Institutional History Spine*, 2026-09-02) — text of the pair and its stated anchor rationale. The pair's only listed URL is its anchor, Executive Office of the President, *Establishing the Task Force to Eliminate Fraud* (March 2026). That anchor does not itself establish the acreage or governance statement. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/03/establishing-the-task-force-to-eliminate-fraud/ [^4]: Carver County Historical Society, *Carver County Driving Tour* (undated) — county established Feb. 20, 1855 and organized March 1855; 376 square miles; San Francisco Township the first county seat. https://www.carvercountyhistoricalsociety.org/pdfs/CarverCountyDrivingTour.pdf