Heritage Trees of Marion County

A civilization flourishes when people plant trees under which they will never sit.–Greek Proverb

Beech: JACOB AMSLER SWISS BEECH

This European Beech, the largest in the county, is located at 1678 Liberty St. SE, Salem, at the office of dentist Mark Rogers. Jacob Amsler panted the tree in 1902. His son, William, operated the Nob Hill Dairy in the area. Dr. Rogers has named his clinic Liberty Beech Dental after the tree.

Cherry: OLD CHERRY TREE

This huge cherry tree, located in the Willamette River bottom southeast of the Independence bridge, is one of the largest in this part of the Willamette Valley. Its giant size suggests it to be at last 100 years old. Now a lone tree far from others, it harks back to the days when vast hop fields covered the flats along the Willamette River in southern Marion County. Its pioneer planter is unknown.

Cottonwood: NATIONAL CHAMPION

The nation’s largest known black cottonwood is located in Willamette Mission State Park north of Salem. This 147-foot-tall tree stands near the site of Jason Lee’s first Methodist Mission in the 1830s and along the course of the Willamette River prior to the flood of 1861. With a 27-foot circum-ference, the tree possible provided shade to Lee and his assistants. At present, the cottonwood is the only national champion in the state park. Access is readily available by a well-graveled trail of about 100 yards.

Cottonwood: RIDING WHIP TREE

This tree began as a switch used by Florinda Geer during a pony ride with her beau at the ranch of Oregon Governor Theodore T. Geer. Upon completion of their countryside ride, the young girl stuck her switch into the ground. It grew. Later, she married her sweetheart and they had a son, Homer Davenport, who later became a nationally famous political cartoonist and the honoree of Homer Davenport Days in Silverton. The tree, located on the Vesper Geer Rose Ranch along NE Sunnyview St. in the Waldo Hills, is a very large cottonwood today.

Ginkgo: MARK HATFIELD GINKGO

On the northeast corner of the State Labor and Industry Building, which is located at Chemeketa and Summer Streets in Salem is a large Gingko Biloba. The tree is located where U.S. District Court Judge John McNary (a brother of U.S. Senator Charles McNary) lived in the early 1900s. Although it is not known if John planted the “living fossil,” the most unusual aspect of the tree’s back-ground is the circumstance of its survival during construction of the Labor and Industry Building.Mark Hatfield was Oregon’s governor at the time. He wisely demanded the building contract stipulate that any final payment of the construction be contingent on the tree remaining alive one year after the building’s completion. The tree survived and the contractor was paid.

Honeysuckle: BEAUTIFY AMERICA

Normally vine-sized, this honeysuckle is more than six feet in circumference and 20 feet tall. It is the largest of its kind known by local botanists. It is Salem’s only known survivor of the “Beautify America” program at the start of the 20th century. The honeysuckle is located at the southeast corner of Union and Cottage Streets.

Oak: FAIRGROUNDS OAK GROVE

A patch of Oregon white oaks has, for than a century, been the gateway to the Oregon State Fair near 17th and NE Portland Road. Utilized by fair-goers who sometimes came from long distances, the grove annually became a veritable tent city at what was then the outskirts of Salem. In the years before the big, statewide event, the Kalapuya Indians used the site – with its stand of oaks – during their migrations through the valley.

Camas plants used by the native people continue to grow in the grove. Although the grove has been used heavily over the ensuing years, the “scrub” oaks survived intact and, today, their size belies their age. The grove is now one of the few original stands indigenous to the area.

A member of the lily family, “camassia quamash” still grows in the Willamette Valley; it is known for its beautiful blue spring time blooms. (page 3)

Kalapuya women dug the camas with forked wooden sticks and then roasted and dried the root in pit-ovens. This mixture was also pressed into cakes or loaves for later use as food or as a valuable trade item. 

Oak: SIGNATURE OAK

Located at the Oregon Gardens south of Silverton, the 99-foot-tall Signature Oak splits into two trunks two feet off the ground. Its lower branches bend to the ground, grow along the surface, and curve back up off the ground on all sides of the tree. Kalapuyans used acorns as part of their diet.

Pear: HAGER GROVE PEAR TREE

This pear tree is one of the oldest and largest in Oregon. Although passed by thousands daily at the northeast corner of the Interstate 5 and Highway 22 intersection, it is rarely noticed – except in the spring while in full blossom. It is the lone survivor of an orchards planted by the Munkre family. The Munkre family came to Oregon from Missouri in 1847 with a large family and a very ill mother. Mr. Munkre deemed it advisable to carry a coffin for her in case the hardships of the long trail caused her frail body to expire.

However, not only did Mrs. Munkre survive, but legend has it she outlived her husband and buried him in the coffin carried from Missouri. The name Munkre is now honored by the street spelling “Munker.” The orchard became part of Hager’s Grove, a popular creekside attraction which was entered through a long lane down through the fruit trees. The tree is also one of the first Oregon Heritage Trees.

Tulip: BROWN FAMILY TULIP TREE

Located in Stayton, the large Yellow Poplar is one of the largest such species in Oregon, and was planted by Stayton pioneer Leander Brown. Planted by Mr. Brown at the turn of the century. The tree is located on the Giles Brown homesite – private property.

Redwood: WALDO PARK

William Waldo planted this giant sequoia at Summer and Union Streets in 1872. The tree in 1936 became the focal point of a Salem city park, which Robert L. Ripley of “Ripley’s Believe It or Not” once said was the smallest park in country. Now, it is called the “Littlest Redwood Park in the World.”The tree has been designated an Oregon Heritage Tree.

Redwoods: WILLAMETTE UNIVERSITY

These five Sequoia Redwoods on State Street are referred to as the “Cathedral of the Centuries” by Willamette University. They were planted to honor the school’s 100th anniversary in 1942. From the interior of their pattern, they form a star to remind us that “yet unborn generations” will be served by Salem’s first college. One of the students who planted the trees, Warne Nunn, later became president of the university’s Board of Trustees. The trees were first illuminated by Christmas lights in 1997.

Walnut: HIGHLAND HYBRID PERSIAN WALNUT

This walnut, at 1190 Donna St. NE, Salem, shows the strength of a tree and its heritage. Planted in the early 1900s by Elijah Bradfield, the owner of Bradfield Lumber Co. on Fairgrounds Rd, the tree has survived the neighborhood’s development and has grown into one of the largest hybrid walnut trees in the area.When the City of Salem wanted to remove the sidewalk-buckling walnut in the 1980s, owner Jay W. Smith agreed to an easement upon his property for a new sidewalk that allowed the tree to be spared. Smith said he originally bought the property principally due to the presence of the tree.

Bradfield, who was still alive in the 1980s, and lived to be 105-years-old, said he did not want the walnut tree harmed as long as he was alive.

Walnut: JUDSON BLACK WALNUT

Robert Thomas Judson, the son of Salem pioneer Lewis H. Judson, planted this in 1863 with his fiancé – who died before the wedding. Eleven years later, Judson married her sister, Sara Alice McBee, and theirs was a lifetime love affair. In 1937, Robert built the nearby house at 1000 Judson SE, where he lived until he died in his 90s. The tree is unique in that some branches have touched the ground and re-rooted, making a “one-tree forest” in the backyard at times. There is also a Mission Rose nearby.

Walnut: LAFOLLETTE BACK WALNUT

Situated near the southeast corner of Union and Cottage Streets in Salem, the LaFollette tree is one of largest trees of its kind in Marion County. The Harry Widmers moved into the adjacent residence in 1905 and said the tree was big then. An old man about town named LaFollette told the Widmers he started the big tree about 1880 or earlier as a nut brought by wagon from Nebraska. The tree is fronted by the Heritage Tree Restaurant on Cottage Street.

Compiled by Sue Gibby

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Bibliography:

Marion County Historical Society pamphlet on Heritage Trees, Salem, Public Library,1999

For more information about the Marion County Society’s Heritage Tree Program contact the Marion County Historical Society a link to their web site is under the “Local Links” navigation button.

Photo by Sue Gibby

This article originally appeared on the original Salem Online History site and has not been updated since 2006.