founded in 1945 on what used to be a pear orchard and hop ranch, the arboretum was originally named the charles m. goethe arboretum in honor of charles goethe (1875–1966, pronounced "geh-teh"), a land developer, philanthropist, conservationist, eugenicist, and one of the university's founding fathers. "the name was changed without fanfare to university arboretum in 2005" because of renewed attention to goethe's virulently racist views, praise of nazi germany, and advocacy of eugenics.