Johnny Appleseed Museum and Society

The Johnny Appleseed Educational Center and Museum, sponsored by the Johnny Appleseed Society and Urbana University, seeks to promote the ideals by which Johnny Appleseed lived and to memorialize the many roles he played in the development of the Northwest Territory. Johnny Appleseed's real name was John Chapman. He was a New Englander who came west in the 1790s seeking new opportunities and serving as a missionary of Emmanuel Swedenborg's writings. Chapman was known among settlers at that time as a man of very simple means who spread his faith in God as he traveled from settlement to settlement planting apple seeds. It was from this simple living and dedication to God's teaching that the legend of Johnny Appleseed was born. The Center on the campus of Urbana University in Urbana, Ohio holds the largest collection of memorabilia and written information about the life of John "Appleseed" Chapman known to exist in the world. A computer database is also available for research purposes for retreival and identification of information, and serves as a clearinghouse for information. A National Registry of Johnny Appleseed's relatives has also been established for those interested in geneological heritage. Special items on display at the museum include a cider press (circa 1850) that was used by John James to process apples from trees planted by Johnny Appleseed in Champaign County, commemorative plates from festivals held in his honour, wood and bark from original trees planted by Johnny Appleseed in Ohio and Indiana, photos of monuments and markers dedicated to Johnny Appleseed, and a portion of the many publications about Johnny Appleseed's life and legend that have been collected. In 1999, seedlings from the last-known surviving apple tree planted by Johnny Appleseed were transplanted into the courtyard around the museum. The trees are testimony to Johnny Appleseed's everlasting contributions to agricultural stewarsdhip.