The Gerald D. Coorts Memorial Arboretum

The Gerald D. Coorts Memorial Arboretum on the Tennessee Tech campus was officially dedicated on March 7, 1997 (Arbor Day). It encompasses all of the grounds from South Hall to Derryberry Hall bordering on Dixie Avenue.

Dr. Coorts was dean of Tennessee Tech’s College of Agriculture and Home Economics (now Human Ecology) from 1985 until his death in June 1994. This memorial honors a person who dedicated his life to the services of others. The Cookeville Tree Board, of which Coorts was a member, proposed the memorial, and Tennessee Tech and the Board followed up with the plan to establish the arboretum.

Coorts, the first in his family to attend college, earned bachelor’s and master’s degree from the University of Missouri and a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois – all degrees in plant and soil science. Before joining Tennessee Tech in 1985, Coorts served for 17 years at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, eventually becoming chairman of Plant and Soil Science. He also taught at the University of Rhode Island and Purdue University, devoting his entire career to education.

In addition to his tenure as dean, Coorts was a member of the Tennessee Tech Garden Club, Cookeville Rose Society, and Bryan Symphony Orchestra Board. He was president of the Tennessee Council on Agriculture and served on the USDA Commission on Higher Education.

After the dedication ceremony in South Hall, a white beech memorial tree was planted on the Quadrangle in his honor. Also, a stone memorial (now located in front of South Hall) was erected, and the plaque on the stone reads, “Dr. Coorts’ life was a dedication to the beautification of God’s earth through sight and sound.” When the memorial stone was relocated from the Quadrangle to its current location, it was placed upright on a concrete pad. Before the concrete was dry, leaf impressions were made in a concrete “lip” of the pad. One leaf from every tree located in the Arboretum at that time was pressed into the wet concrete. The border area of the pad was reserved for imprinted bricks, which were sold at $50 per brick to raise funds to support maintenance and expansion of the arboretum. The project is complete with some 60 bricks having been sold and installed.

The Cookeville Tree Board makes an annual donation to support maintenance of the arboretum, but its proper operation depends upon additional donations from the public. Dr. Douglas Airhart, professor of horticulture, is arboretum manager and the dean of the colleges, receives donations and oversees the expenditures and the arboretum account.

The Tennessee Urban Forestry Council and the Tennessee Federation of Garden Clubs, Inc., certified the Gerald D. Coorts Memorial Arboretum as a Level 2 arboretum in August 2003. It maintains that certification to the current date.