Davey Tree Expert Company

In 1873 at age 27, John Davey traveled from his native England to the United States, first to Castle Garden, New York, and later to Warren, Ohio, where he worked as a janitor. He moved to Kent, Ohio, in 1881 to take a job at Standing Rock Cemetery. The cemetery let him experiment with the property's trees, shrubs and flowers. He planted hundreds of trees along the Kent streets and around homes in the community and performed some tree work. He wanted people to care about trees, so he wrote a book on the topic. Davey's book was published in 1901 as The Tree Doctor.

John Davey was the company's president, and his son, Martin L. Davey, became the general manager and treasurer eight years later when The Davey Tree Expert Company was incorporated in 1909. By 1915, Davey Tree was growing and expanding: during the period from 1915 to 1920, the company expanded more than fivefold. Today, its sales are more than $1.8 billion.

The company operates in two segments, residential/commercial, and utility. It has research, technical support, and laboratory diagnostic facilities. The residential/commercial segment is involved in the treatment, preservation, maintenance, removal, and planting of trees, shrubs, and other plant life. The segment's services also include landscaping, grounds maintenance, tree surgery, as well as the application of fertilizers, herbicides, and insecticides. The utility services segment engages vegetation management around power lines, rights-of-way, and chemical brush control services; and natural resource management and consulting, forestry research and development, and environmental planning services.

About half the company growth in this century has come from mergers and acquisitions, the largest being Illinois-based The Care of Trees in 2008. Davey Tree has also purchased VanCuren Services, Inc. and Midwest Land Clearing, Inc. in 2024, Mickman Brothers, Inc. in 2023, Restoration Systems LLC in 2022, and TGC Engineering in 2020.