Marshall Nurseries

Text

Brothers George and Chester Marshall founded Marshall Brothers in 1887. Incorporated as Marshall Nurseries in 1916, the tree nursery survived for more than a century, bringing prosperity to Arlington and influencing horticulture throughout the country.

The company’s operations grew with its reputation, opening nurseries in Omaha, Colorado Springs, and Denver. Locally, the nursery employed more than 100 people, including a large number from the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska.
The nurseries supplied much of the original landscaping for the Nebraska State Capitol in Lincoln and for the Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha. The nursery’s honors ranged from winning a statewide ‘big tree’ competition in 1963 to winning the Best Fruit Display at the 1900 World’s Fair in Paris. Marshall Nurseries may be best known for the creation of the Marshall Seedless Green Ash tree (Fraxinus pennsylvanica 'Marshall'). For many years the Marshall Ash was the most common green ash cultivar in the United States.

Marshall Nurseries closed in 1994, but its legacy lives on through the lives it touched and the trees it planted.