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Meyer, Bill

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OpenRiver Stories from the Arboretum Arboretum Winter 12-1-2020 Reflections on a 115 Year-Old Member of the WSU Campus of Trees Bill Meyer Winona State University Follow this and additional works at: https://openriver.winona.edu/wsuarboretumstories Recommended Citation Meyer, Bill, "Reflections on a 115 Year-Old Member of the WSU Campus of Trees" (2020). Stories from the Arboretum. 27. https://openriver.winona.edu/wsuarboretumstories/27 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Arboretum at OpenRiver. It has been accepted for inclusion in Stories from the Arboretum by an authorized administrator of OpenRiver. For more information, please contact klarson@winona.edu. Reflections of a 115-year-old Former Member  of the WSU Campus of Trees Bill Meyer, WSU Senior Groundskeeper (Retired)  Over the years a number of Hackberry trees have enhanced the landscape at Winona State University but few have achieved the longevity of this tree that stood guarding the main entrance to the Dufresne Performing Arts Center.   This Common Hackberry, which is botanically known by the rather noble name, Celtis occidentalis, probably wasn’t considered the best looking tree among the campus of trees.  It didn’t have the flashing red autumn colors of the maples or the eye catching, showy flowers of the crabapples, but it was a reliable, durable tree that graced the campus for over a century. The tree oversaw a multitude of historical and local events.  Let’s take a look at what this tree might have witnessed and go back to the beginning.  When Cher sang her big hit song, “If I Could Turn Back Time,” she probably wasn’t thinking about WSU and its old Hackberry tree.   But what if we could step back in time to the year 1905, what might we see happening on a small campus in Winona called Winona State Normal School?   The President at that time was Guy Maxwell who would guide the Winona State Normal School and later the Winona State Teachers College until 1939, having served the Teachers College for an incredible 35 years.  Most likely in the spring of 1905 a young Hackberry sapling was planted on a boulevard nearly a block away from the Normal School.  It is quite possible that President Maxwell walked by this young tree many times on his way to work.  The young tree must have liked its location on the boulevard in the neighborhood adjacent to the Normal School because it began to flourish and develop into a young tree.  Quite possibly, several of Henry Ford’s early Model T’s could have been found parked on the street next to the young Hackberry.  Ford had begun selling the popular automobile three years after the young Hackberry was planted.  As the young tree branched out and grew taller, it’s distinctive purple berries would have slowly been put on display.  Undoubtedly, these berries were a big hit with the birds.  One can imagine cedar waxwings and orioles attracted to the berries and these birds might have been observed hopping from branch to branch grabbing hackberries from beneath the leaves.    In 1922, fire engines probably raced by the young Hackberry in an attempt to put out a massive blaze that threatened two of Winona State’s original buildings. Old Main burned down to the ground on that cold December day.  With each passing decade the Hackberry tree watched as the campus grew and new Presidents came with brand new ideas.   From the 1920’s until the 1940’s additional departments and more relevant curriculum were added.  The oldest member of the Minnesota State College and University System was indeed growing fast.   As the Winona State Teachers College (the new name for the Winona State Normal School) grew, our young Hackberry tree was no longer a young tree but slowly had matured and was displaying a stately presence on the boulevard down the street from Phelps Hall, one of the school’s first buildings.  Jumping forward to the 1960’s the campus saw a huge spurt of growth with the construction of buildings such as Watkins Hall, Gildemeister Hall, and Kryzsko Commons.  In 1968, the Performing Arts Building was added to the campus.  With the completion of the Dufresne Performing Arts Center, the name given to the building in 2019, our mature Hackberry was formally added to the Winona State College campus.  Up to this point, the tree had been considered a nearby neighborhood tree, but now it officially greeted visitors on their way to view a performance or musical at the new Performing Arts Center.  In the 1960’s and 1970’s our Hackberry tree had become a large tree on the campus and was able to offer ample shade to students, staff and teachers walking in the area.  Since 1905 each of the WSU Presidents could stroll by the tree as they walked through the growing campus.  Birds and squirrels had found a spacious home for nesting and food.  Probably an occasional cat found its way onto a swaying branch.  The Hackberry had become a full-fledged member of the (WSU) campus of trees and had a pivotal location in the middle of the campus.  Over the years the Hackberry tree survived windstorms and snowstorms, hail, drought, excessive rain and insects.  The inside of the tree began to show signs of aging with rot developing in the heartwood.  Still, the tree lived on, appearing to be healthy as the breeze would ripple through its leaves.  The mid 1990’s brought big changes to the WSU campus.  With the beautification of the landscape project initiated by President Darrell Krueger, the streets that crisscrossed the inner core of the campus were removed and replaced with green space.  New trees, small intimate gardens were introduced, ponds and other moving water landscape projects were built, adding a tranquil element to the campus.  The space surrounding our eldery Hackberry tree had new young trees and plant materials surrounding it.   A Weeping Katsura, a Three Flowered Maple, a Ginkgo, an Ironwood, and a River Birch were a few of its new neighbors in the space where a busy street once carried fast moving traffic.  During the Christmas season the old Hackberry tree would have noticed an international student decorating a nearby Showy Mountain Ash with red ribbon, carefully wrapping each branch until the entire tree was cloaked in red.  Summers would bring the Great River Shakespeare Festival Concerts on the Green under the big tent featuring live music and food trucks would park near the old tree.  As the campus of trees at WSU became more and more diverse, the Hackberry continued to age, losing more branches each year while the decay within made it more and more fragile.  Finally, on a windy day in October, 2020, the 70 foot Hackberry lost a major limb revealing a structural weakness on the inside of its trunk.  A decision was made to take the tree down for safety concerns and on a sunny cold December day WSU’s arborist, Mark Kruse, began the three-day removal process.    The once mighty Hackberry is but a stump now. From President Maxwell to the current President Olson, the Hackberry tree has stood by watching the pages of history turn over the past century.  We bid the tree a fond farewell and thank it for its many years of service!  

Reflections on a 115 Year-Old Member of the WSU Campus of Trees

https://openriver.winona.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1026&context=wsuarboretumstories

Reflections on a 115 Year-Old Member of the WSU Campus of Trees

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