MOUNT CARROLL – A groundbreaking ceremony for the Frances Shimer Memorial Arboretum at the Campbell Center was Nov. 2.

The 14-acre campus has more than 200 trees, several older than 100. The area is the home of an American chesunut tree on the Illinois Register of Big Trees as the largest chestnut in Illinois.

Visitors to the new arboretum will find 60 different species of trees. It is named in honor of Shimer, who directed Shimer College from the mid 1850s through the mid 1890s. She was responsible for planting hundreds of the trees and shrubs on the grounds.