In 1866 the new building ordinance for Umeå established that along the pavement edge suitable broadleaf trees had to be planted at regular intervals and thus Umeå had it first street birches. These were planted along the western part of Storgatan. However, the planting of birches on the city sidewalks was not done on a large scale until after the 1888 fire. In 1892 it was decided that the birch tree was the most suitable tree to plant on the city sidewalks.