Editor's note: In honor of the university's centennial year, The Daily News is counting down 100 days to the university's celebration Sept. 6 with 100 of Ball State's most famous traditions and figures. Check back each day to read about Cardinal history.
Nestled just west of Cooper Life Science lies 17 acres of protected deciduous forest, grass prairie and other plant communities.
Christy Woods was part of the original land the Ball brothers gifted to the State of Indiana in 1918. Before the donation, the land was used for the timber industry and hogs were allowed to graze throughout the woods.
This type of use destroyed the native plant species. So, O.B. Christy, the head of the science department at the time, worked with his biology classes to transplant various wildflowers from around the state into the woods and an iron fence was installed.
In 1928, a system of trails was laid out in the wooded portion of the park and garden beds were added in open areas.
The land was known as The Arboretum until 1940 when it was given the name Christy Woods in honor of O.B. Christy.
Nearly two-thirds of the area is covered in deciduous forest, meaning the trees shed leaves annually. In the center of the area is tall grass prairie that is similar to the habitat that once covered northwest Indiana.
In 1971, a greenhouse was built to house the Wheeler-Thanhauser Orchid Collection, which was donated by W.O. and Goldie Wheeler. In 1982, another 600 orchids were given by Al Thanhauser. In 2008, over 1,000 orchids were donated by Charles Bracker.
Now, nearly 2,000 orchids are housed in The Dr. Joe and Alice Rinard Orchid Greenhouse, which makes it the largest university-based orchid collection in the U.S.
In 1992, the Teaching and Research Greenhouse was built. It houses the teaching collection — over 3,000 plants from around the world — provides growing space for projects and produces plant lab material for botany students.
There are two other greenhouses located in Christy Woods: the Environmental Studies Greenhouse, which is used for research and propagation of native species, and a second that is used to grow herbs to supply Dining Services.
The woods are open to the public Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Read more centennial content here.
Contact Brynn Mechem with comments at bamechem@bsu.edu or on Twitter @BrynnMechem.
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