Lakewood Lore

Old trees rooted deep into city's beginnings

In 1946, when naturalist A.B. Williams identified 150 of the oldest trees in Cuyahoga County, five Lakewood giants were among them – three white oaks, a pin oak and an American elm.

All 150 were judged by Williams to have been standing in 1796, when the city of Cleveland was founded.

A quarter century later in 1971, the Early Settlers Association of the Western Reserve rechecked Williams' list. It discovered that two of the five Lakewood trees (the pin oak and the American elm) were gone. But the other three were doing okay and had shown 25-year increases in their trunk diameters ranging from 4.1 to 8.6 inches. As in the earlier check, diameters were measured 4.5 inches above the bases.

This past summer, 17 years after the 1971 recheck, I did another follow-up examination of the three Lakewood tree sites. I learned that one of the trees, the white oak at 1289 Ramona, had to be cut down nine years ago because its proximity to the house at that address posed a hazard.

However, I found the other two white oaks thriving. One, in front of Roosevelt Elementary School at 14239 Athens, is a vigorous tree that has expanded its diameter to 42.4 inches, an increase of 2.7 inches since 1971.

The other, at 1270 Summit, is even more impressive. Its diameter has grown to 65.25 inches, 8.75 inches greater than in 1971 and up 16.25 inches in the 42-year period.

This survivor stands on the tree lawn of the 83-year-old home of Irvin Norton, whose great-grandfather was the early-day farmer for whom Lakewood's Norton Avenue was named.

This article by Dan Chabek appeared in the Lakewood Sun Post October 20, 1988.

Reprinted with permission.

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