In 1903 this site, like much of Northern Michigan, was barren after Michigan's forests had been almost entirely cut down during the logging era from 1850 to 1900, and fires ravaged what was left. Professor Filibert Roth opened Michigan's first state nursery here in 1904 in hope of reforesting the empty land. Higgins Lake Nursery became the birthplace of Michigan's scientifically managed modern forests. At its height, this 48-acre facility, the size of 36 football fields, grew millions of tree seedlings every year. Young men from the Civilian Conservation Corps worked with the nursery in the 1930s and 1940s to plant millions of trees around Michigan.