Timothy Christian Schools Arboretum

Timothy Christian School was established in Chicago in 1911 by Dutch immigrants. In 1962, the high school moved to the current Elmhurst campus, followed by the middle school and elementary school several years later. Before the school’s relocation, the property in Elmhurst was a mushroom farm. Along the entire south side of the campus was a line of Osage Orange trees. At the time, these trees were so so dense that they formed a literal fence. Today, this area has been pruned back, but we still have the original Osage Orange trees. Another unique feature of our school’s trees is a person: John Harkema. He was a Latin, English, and photography teacher in high school, starting in 1962.  In addition to being an educator, he is responsible for planting almost every tree on our campus. For 56 years, he has planted trees. Why does our 26-acre campus have so many trees with over 60 different varieties? It is because of one man with a passion for trees.