The Elmhurst College Arboretum was established in 1966. The arboretum was the vision of a landscape architect, Herb Licht, who was a neighbor to the campus. As the elms on the campus were being lost to Dutch elm disease, Licht had a vision for the campus where he pictured hundreds of new trees lining the pathways and framing the buildings. He envisioned the campus as an arboretum of varied and exotic plant life. Licht collected and donated 65 varieties of trees and shrubs to start the arboretum.

In the arboretum's first year, the college hired Ragnar Moen as the first groundskeeper. The first tree he planted was a Shumard Oak which graces the campus mall to this day. Moen also started a small nursery to start saplings which when large enough would be moved to their spot to be showcased in the arboretum. The nursery is still active and each spring sees a new crop of young saplings waiting for their turn to adorn the arboretum grounds. Moen and Licht spent many weekends driving from nursery to nursery to find the plants that now grace the arboretum grounds. Along with the Shumard Oak, visitor's favorites are the Dawn Redwood, Pecan, Weeping Beech, Fernleaf Beech, Merrill Magnolias, Castor-aralia, and Chinese Pistachio.