Unfortunately, in many places you won't find the trees for which the streets were named. American elms, which once towered over one hundred feet high in floodplain forests and along riverbanks, have been decimated by Dutch elm disease, caused by a fungus spread by the elm bark beetle. The beetle came to this country in the early 1900s as a stowaway in a lumber shipment from the Netherlands bound for Massachusetts. The fungus carried by the beetle breaks down the elm tree's vascular system, stopping water and nutrients from reaching the leaves.
Some old elms survive today, but more succumb each year.
Efforts have been underway for years to find elms to replace what has been lost from the American landscape. Results may be just around the corner. Nurseries are now developing disease-resistant American elms. Several are available now, and others will be released in just a few years. Valley Forge elm has the best disease tolerance of the American elms and will grow to seventy feet with the typical vase-shaped form.