August 3 Farewell, Library Elm

One of my favorite trees in Madison has lived a long and prosperous life, serving as a gateway to downtown from the south. Or a gateway out of the city, depending on your direction of travel. Its last neighbor was the south library branch, but this American elm sprouted around the year 1900, when park street was just a dirt road known as "Oregon Ave," and the closest buildings were a half mile away. Land was subdivided and sold in the nearby Bram's Addition in 1908, bringing humans closer and growing activity on the road. Golfers could be seen in this same view in the 1920's and 30s, swinging their clubs on the Burr Oaks golf course. Then in 1948, park street widened to a paved, 4-lane road in anticipation of the south beltline expansion. The bowling alley opened nearby in the 1950s, and the original Villager Mall was built along with the Burr Oaks neighborhood over the course of a decade. For fifty years, our elm grew to mature old age in the corner of a parking lot, watching cars come and go to the mall. Finally, in 2010, the library and the Urban League moved into the new building seen here, and the elm gave it excellent shade. The tree still had plenty of leaves this year, but was beginning to rot from inside out, as hardwoods do. And so the time came for the south Madison elm to come down, silently, without resisting.