The last of our historical trees is a white oak in the eastern part of the village of Flushing on Long Island a few miles from New York. George Fox, the founder of the Society of Friends, preached under it in 1672, and afterward it was held in deep regard by the Quakers.
FORT WAYNE SENTINEL, July 11, 1891
Hoosiers and other Midwesterners may well be proud of the interesting trees of their states. These giants of the forest are interesting because of closely connected historical events or because of special facets of their own histories. Indiana and her neighboring states have produced great trees worthy of special mention.
The fame of a tree is perpetuated and frequently exaggerated or altered during its lifetime. The natives consider the tree as a landmark; they proudly point it out and relate its history to strangers. All too often when the tree dies and is felled, it is unfortunately forgotten. The legend also dies for succeeding generations.
The citizens of Indiana are indeed fortunate that their most famous tree, the Constitution Elm, has not been allowed to sink into oblivion. Delegates met at Corydon, Indiana’s first capitol, on June 10, 1816, to draft the first state constitution. The weather was unseasonably warm; the heat may have influenced the committee to adjourn to the shade of a huge elm on the lawn of the Statehouse. Under these sheltering branches spreading over one hundred feet, the delegates met each day until they had completed that historic document on the twenty-ninth of June in that memorable summer. The elm perished in 1925 from a fatal root disease, phloem necrosis, but the trunk was preserved and set in a sandstone monument.
Another elm connected with the political history of Indiana grew at Plainfield. In 1842 Martin Van Buren toured the West, and his itinerary included Indianapolis and Terre Haute with a stop en route at Plainfield. Although 1842 was not a presidential election year, Van Buren undoubtedly had in mind the coming nominations of 1844, for he made speeches at every stop and gave his political opinions freely. In Indianapolis he was given an enthusiastic reception by his friends and admirers. But he also had political enemies in Indiana. The owners of the stage coach lines were incensed because he had not favorably received legislation for road improvement.
the Constitution Elm ... Corydon, Indiana
These enemies planned to mar his arrival at Plainfield and had little trouble bribing the driver of Van Buren’s coach to effect it. The National Road led into Plainfield, and beside it towered an ancient elm. The massive roots of the tree extended across the road. As the coach approached the tree, the driver whipped up the horses instead of slowing them down. The wheels struck the obstacle; the impact upset the coach, and Van Buren landed in the muddy road. His political foes succeeded in spoiling his arrival at Plainfield and doubtlessly impressed him with the urgent need for highway improvement! The local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution has since marked this elm with a plaque.
The patriarch of Fort Wayne’s apple trees was bearing fruit long before General Wayne appeared on the scene. When Chief Richardville of the Miami Indians was born in a hut near the tree in 1761, the apple tree stood in the midst of the Miami village, Kekionga. The city grew and prospered; late in the nineteenth century the venerable tree perished at an estimated age of one hundred and fifty years. Although the exact location is unknown, it stood in the Lakeside residential district of Fort Wayne. An article in the May, 1862, issue of HARPER’S NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE reveals that the trunk of the ancient tree measured twenty feet in diameter in 1860.