Maryville loses highest-standing tree

Crews from Weldon’s Tree Service in Maryville work to cut down a 55-foot locust tree Tuesday at 721 S. Buchanan. While it may not have been the largest tree in the city, where it stood made the tree one of the highest points in the city.

After the July storm damaged portions of a locust tree at 721 S. Buchanan, residents Ed and Ann Martin are having the tree removed.

What makes this tree so special is that it was once recorded as the tallest tree in Maryville, according to the late Millie Linthicum, who owned the property before it was sold to the Martins in 2005.

“Millie told us that about 25 or 30 years ago now, a few men came by doing some surveying,” Ed Martin said. “They told her that their neighborhood was in one of the highest elevations in Maryville, and that her tree was the tallest in the city.”

Standing approximately 55-feet tall, the locust tree isn’t the largest on its own, but the location at one of the highest points of elevation in the city of Maryville makes the locust tree the tallest in the city.

Martin said he has not seen any official confirming document, but that he has noticed the elevation of their property does seem to be one of the highest in the community.

“During the Fourth of July, we can sit on our back deck and watch the fireworks display at Mozingo (Lake Recreation Park),” Martin said.

The tree stood on the property of the original farmhouse that was annexed into Maryville along with acres of farmland. Because of that, the locust is also one of the oldest trees in the neighborhood.

Martin had been hesitant to remove the tree, even fighting for it to remain because it provided his home with ample shade and protection from the elements.

When branches began coming down during heavy winds, Martin said he decided it had stood long enough.

“People have been wanting me to take it down for a while,” Martin said, “but after the last windstorm that three large dead branches fell out., I decided then that it needed to come down before a windstorm knocked it down on our house or someone else’s.”