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TOPIC: Big sycamore in Buffalo, NY
http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees/browse_thread/thread/a7846cdbc31d77d1?hl=en
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== 1 of 2 ==
Date: Wed, Mar 26 2008 12:37 pm
From: Kirk Johnson

I was in downtown Buffalo, NY yesterday and came across this massive
sycamore tree (attached photos). It is at 404 Franklin Street. I didn't have
a D-tape with me unfortunately, but you get a sense of how large the trunk
is by comparing it to the car parked next to it. It grew out over the
street, and the crown hangs over the building on the other side of the
street from it

The plaque reads:

"THIS SYCAMORE TREE
IS BELIEVED TO BE
THE OLDEST TREE
IN BUFFALO
ABOUT 250 YEARS OLD
THE BUFFALO LUMBER EXCHANGE
EST. 1880
PRESENTS THIS PLAQUE
IN COMMEMORATION OF
NATIONAL FOREST PRODUCTS WEEK
OCTOBER 16-22, 1960"

So if it was around 250 years old in 1960, that makes it around 300 years
old today. Maybe the ENTS have made note of this tree before, but I thought
I'd pass it along just in case.

Kirk Johnson

== 2 of 2 ==
Date: Wed, Mar 26 2008 12:46 pm
From: Thomas Diggins


Yep, that's a nice one (can't open the attachments, but I 'm a
Buffalonian so I've seen this tree numerous times). Being likely
hollow, I'm not sure how the age estimate was generated, but 250 - 300
years is reasonable for this size class. I've never measured its CBH,
but I'd estimate it in the upper teens based on driving by. I'm gonna
be in Buffalo next weekend so I'll wrap a tape around it.

Tom

== 2 of 2 ==
Date: Wed, Mar 26 2008 2:58 pm
From: "Will Blozan"


Kirk,

I wonder, if the tree is that old, did the city build around the tree so it
would conveniently be between the street and sidewalk? I would doubt it
predates the neighborhood. Any idea how old the neighborhood is?

Will

== 2 of 3 ==
Date: Thurs, Mar 27 2008 4:23 am
From: "William Morse"


I moved to Hamburg (just south of Buffalo) eight yrs ago and I have
never seen that tree! Thanks for sharing. I spoke with my boss, Don
Owens. He is the lead author of the Erie County Soil Survey and he
mapped much of the City. I asked him how old the neighborhood was and
he said that it, and most of the City, was burned to the ground in
1812. The land which the City is built on was purchased in 1797 by the
Holland Land Company. I found this
page< http://history.buffalonet.org/1801.html  > which pretty much
confirms what Don said. 

Travis

== 3 of 3 ==
Date: Thurs, Mar 27 2008 4:33 am
From: Kirk Johnson


Will,

I looked up Buffalo on WikiPedia, and found a source that says most of
Buffalo's streets were laid out in 1804. (Until 1826, Franklin Street was
apparently called Tuscarora Street.) My guess is, if it's really ~300 years
old, the tree was growing naturally in place and when the streets and
sidewalks were laid out they simply left it since it happened to fit so
neatly. Luck of the draw. Sort of like construction today when you see an
existing mature tree or handful of trees left in the front yard of a new
McMansion.

But perhaps Thomas Diggins can shed more light, being from Buffalo.

Kirk