When prospective students visit the campus, they learn the history of the university’s buildings. They learn about Waco and Thorp Spring and the evolution of the mascot. Now they can learn a little bit about the campus before TCU was there.

The Heritage Tree Tour gives students a glimpse of the campus before a single brick was laid. In light of the university’s focus on environmentally-conscious practices as well as sustainability, it is important for students to remember that the university lies within the natural world.

In TCU’s 100 years in Fort Worth, the community has given so much to the university. The tree tour is one way TCU can give back to the community by documenting the landscape’s rich history for all to see.

Provost Nowell Donovan said the university was built on land that was formerly nothing more than a prairie, a grassy landscape marked by few trees. Though in our 100 years in Fort Worth, TCU students have found a home here 8212; it seems nothing about TCU is native. Most of the trees were planted by hand and the students come from around the world.

Today the trees seem as at home on campus as the students. For incoming students, it should be a comfort that few things on this campus are native. The trees are as much a part of TCU as the students, the buildings and the horned frog.

The man-made structures aren’t the only part of the history here at the university; the trees also have become a part of the university’s history.

News editor Kayla Mezzell for the editorial board.