The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-09-02
THE OLD ELM IN BOSTON.
History of This, Landmark Which Wind Destroyed

Hlstofy or IniS, LdnumarK% Wnlcn Wlnd
 Destroyed.
 February 15. 1876, was sad day for local historians in Boston, for the newspapers announced the next day that at about ' o'clock the previous evening the old Elm, on Boston Com ! mon, had been destroyed by a great storm, which swept over the city at that time. So many eulogies, both oral and written, were delivered on this most ancient of Boston's landmarks, and it was realized that a connecting link with the remote past was gone for ever.
 It is not known when the tree began to grow. but an old Boston tradition was that the wife of Thomas Hancock, Henchman before her marriage, claimed that her grandfather, Hezekah Hench- man planted the tree when he was a boy. This boy. This would have made the tree just about two hundred years old at the time of it's destruction.
 It is probable that some of the many persons on record as being publicly executed on Boston Common looked on the fair world for the last time when standing beneath its branches, for 1t was one of the largest. if not the largest tree in the town and 1t stood on l its outskirts: and also fin 1722 1t must have been a prominent object in Boston for Bohner's map of the town, publish- ed in that year, shows it as a feature.
 Tn 1925 the first recorded measurement of the Old Elm, showed it's dimensions to be as follows: Height, 65 feet; cir ,cumference, 21 feet inches and 2 feet 1 6 inches from the ground, and the ex- treme diameter of the branches was S6 feet. At this time it was said of the tree that this pride of our Common is i pronounced by judges to be as hand some in form as it is large in size and venerable in age, and 1t may be worth the remark that notwithstanding all the buffeting 1t has received from storms and hurricanes for more than Q century it's original beauty and synlne- 1 try have not been inparted, although it has at times lost many of it's branches T l The tree was accurately measured by the city engineer of Boston in 1885, and it was found that 1t was considerably | larger than in 1925, it's height being figured at 75 feet. This showed that it l was still growing in it's extererne old age.
 The first serious damage the tree re- ceived was in 1892. when the largest of its 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 end held together by iron rods and bolts. The great gale in June, 1860 injured the tree to such an extent that it's 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 1so rings were counted, which Indicated the great age of the tree. The opening of the centennial year Iof the Republic, 1876, found the tree alive, but decrepit, and it would probably have been decorated on Evacuation Day and the Fourth of July but, as stated at the beginning of this article, February 15 saw it's destruction. I The Old Elm fell at 7:1T 0 clock in the evening, it's trunk poin ting toward the Park Street Church. and the force of the fall shattered the trunk, while the branches were scattered in every direc- tion. The melancholy news spread like wildf1re through the city, and soon, de- spite the storm, the fallen monarch was surrounded by relic hunters. Armed with saws, hatchets and knives, they 1 quickly detached pieces of the branches | to preserve as souvenirs. Persons were seen in the theatres laden with boughs, and it was a common sight that evening to see men in the streets carry ing limbs several feet in length and as large around as a stovepipe Much of
 the tree was made into veneer, and one book, at least, of local history has on it's back cover a large veneer from the tree, bearing on it's face lifelike 1 engraving of the same.
 ! So passed the Old Elm and Boston mourned for its passing.
 1 Dr. Jerome V. c. Smith. mayor of the city in 1854, showed lis interest in the l Old Elm by having the tree carefully | pruned and cleaned, and he caused to be placed around it ar ornamental iron I AOIlCOJ OSIcSO1lelt III Sllbtp6.. OIl Ifl6 l trance gate was attached an oval tab. let,' bearing the following inscription: l "The Old Elm.
 "This tree has been standing here for an unknown period. It Is believed to
 have existed before the settlement of
 Boston, being full grown in 1722; ex- hibited marks of old age in 1792 and
 was nearly destroyed by a storm in 1882. Protected by an iron inclosure in 1854. l U. V. c. Smith, Mayor.''
 Soon after the falling of the Old Elm a young tree of the same species was planted in the center of the inclosure, and to-day 1t has attained a large and
 sturdy growth. Coming generations of Bostonians may be familiar with sec- ond Old Elm on Boston Common, but
 it will always be the first Old Blm
 which witnessed, very possibly, the first settlement of Puritan Boston in 163O-,