Charles Houston Shattuck was born in Vandalia, Missouri. Little is known about his chilhood, but in 1894 and 1898 he earned his B.S. and M.S. degrees from Campbell College. He taught at the college from 1895 to 1903, and additionally held the role of Vice President from 1897 to 1903.

Shattuck was hired by the University of Idaho in 1909 to start the school’s first forestry program. The Department of Forestry was first housed in the College of Agriculture, then quickly moved to the College of Letters and Science when Shattuck was appointed Dean there. In 1910, with the assistance of C. L. Price (the first person hired to oversee campus plantings) he began planting a 14-acre weedy slope with hundreds of introduced trees and shrubs. The Arboretum Hill at U of I was the first university arboretum in the West.

In 1914 Shattuck was made Dean of the College of Letters and Sciences. Shattuck left the U of I in 1917 due to differences in administration but stayed active in forestry. After his death, the arboretum at U of I was renamed the Charles Houston Shattuck Arboretum in 1933.