Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-07-23
THE OLD ELM IN BOSTON.
History of This Landmark, Which
Wind Destroyed.

wilma destroyed.
From the Boston Budget.
February Is. 1876. was sad day for
local historians In Boston, for the news
papers announced the next day that at
about O'Clock the previous evening the
Old Elm on Boston Common had been de-
stroyed by a great storm which swept over
the city at that time. &c. many eulogies.
both oral and written. were delivered on
this most ancient of Bostou's landmarks
and 1t was realized that connecting link
with the remote past was gone forever.
1t Is not known when the tree began to
grow, but an old Boston tradition was that
the wife of Thomas Hancock. the eminent
merchant, who was Lydia Henchman be-
fore her marriage. claimed that her grand
father. Hezekiah Henchman. planted the
tree when he was boy. This would have
years old at the time of Its destruction
1t Is probable that some of the many per-
sons on record being publicly executed
on Boston Common looked on the fair
world for the last time when standing be-
meath its branches, for It was one of the
largest. If not the largest. tree in the town.
and 1t stood on its outskirts: and also in
1'22 1t must have been a prominent object
In Boston. for Bonner's map of the town
published In that year. shows 1t as a fea-
ture.
In 1925, the first recorded measurement
or the Old Elm, showed it's dimensions to
De as follows: Height, Is feet: circum-
Terence. p feet inches at feet 6 inches
from the ground. and the extreme diameter
or the branches was So feet At this time
II was said OF the tree that this pride of
cur common Is pronounced by judges to
be as handsome In form as It is large In
size and venerable In age and II may be
worth the remark that notwithstanding
all the buffeting 1t has received from
century, its original beauty and symmetry
have not been impaired although 1t has
al times lost many OF Its branches"
Inc tree was accurately measured by the
CITY engineer of Boston in 1855, and Ii was
found that 1t was considerably larger than
In 1928. its height being figured at IS feet
This showed that 1t was still growing in Its
extreme old age
The first serious damage the tree recsIyed
was in 1892 when the largest of it's limbs
was so rent asunder that three branches
rested on the ground; but at much cost and
labor they were replaced in their former
positions and held together by iron rods
and bolts. The great gale in June, 1860
injured the tree to such an extent that its
former symmetry was destroyed, and at
this time the cavity in the trunk was filled
with several loads of material On one of
the branches which were torn off at the
time one hundred and ninety rings were
counted, which indicated the great age of
the tree.
The opening of the centennial year of the
republic, 1876. found the tree alive but de-
crepft. and 1t would probably have been
decorated on Evacuation day and the 4th
Of July, but, as stated at the beginning of
this article, February Is its destruc-
ton.
The Old Elm fell at 71T o'clock In the
evening. its trunk pointing toward the
Park Street Church, and the force of the
fall shattered the trunk, while the branches
We're scattered in every direction. The
melancholy news spread like wlldfire
through the city, and soon, despite the
storm. the fallen monarch was surrounded
by relic hunters. Armed with saws hatch
cts and knives, they quickly detached
pieces of the branches to preserve as
souvenirs. Persons were seen In the the
alters laden with boughs, and it was
common sight that evening to see men in
the streets carrying limbs several feet in
length and as large around as stoveppe
Much of the tree was made into veneer,
and one book, a least, of local history
has on It's back cover large veneer from
the tree, bearing on its face a lifelike en-
craving of the same.
So passed the Old Elm and Boston
mourned for its passing.
DIR. jerome V. c. Smith, mayor of the
city in 1854, showed his interest in the Old
Elm by having the tree carefully pruned
and cleaned, and he caused to be placed
around 1T an ornamental iron fence, oc-
tasonal in shape. On the entrance gate
was attached an oval tablet, bearing the
following inscriptions:
THE Old Elm
This tree has been standing here for an
unknown period. 1t is believed to have ex-
listed before the settlement of Boston be-
ing full grown in 1922; exhibited marks of
old age in 1892 and was nearly destroyed
by a storm in 1892. Protected by an iron
Enclosure in 1854
y. V. c. SMITH, Mayor"
Soon falling n
young tree of the same species was plant
ed in the center of the Enclosure, and to-
day it has attained a large and sturdy
growth. Coming generations of Bostonians
may be familiar with a second Old Elm
on Boston Common, but it will always be
the first Old Elm which witnessed. very
possibly. the first settlement of Puritan
Boston in 1880.