Fallen Tree Lives On, Teaches History

Knox College students, faculty, and alumni are making it possible for local students to touch 200 years of history—by working with huge sections cut from a giant Bur Oak tree that was blown down in a storm last summer.

Ted Tourlentes, a 1980 Knox graduate who lives in Galesburg, along with Knox computer science professor David Bunde and his wife, Jennifer, purchased seven of the largest sections from the City of Galesburg.

The sections are more than five feet across and up to six inches thick. They were donated to Galesburg High School, Churchill Junior High School, Lombard Middle School, Costa Catholic Academy, and Knox College.

Knox College biology professor Stuart Allison and three of his students recently delivered the huge pieces—a truckload of wood with a total weight about 2,000 pounds—to Knox, Costa, and GHS; the high school will store two of the pieces until they can be moved to Churchill and Lombard.

"Knowing that the tree blew down in July of 2016, we can start to count backwards through the rings and get a sense of history," said Allison, Watson Bartlett Professor of Biology and director of Knox's Green Oaks Biological Field Station.

After the tree was cut into sections, observers counted at least 190 rings.

"We're missing the very center of the tree, since there's some rot," Allison said. "Based on the diameter, it's estimated that the tree is around 200 years old. That makes it older than the town of Galesburg."

Tourlentes has been watching the tree for more than a decade, since learning of it from Angella Moorehouse, a biologist for the Illinois Nature Preserves Commission. "She pointed out in 2004 that this Bur Oak is exceptionally beautiful, with three long branches, hanging low near the ground," Tourlentes said.

"In 2005, my parents, Tom and Mona Tourlentes, measured the circumference of the trunk at 16 feet, 5 inches."

Tourlentes eventually created a nine-part photo-mosaic of the tree.

"I learned that Bur Oaks can survive prairie fires, and grew in savannas, the border habitat between prairies and woods," Tourlentes said. "This gives a glimpse back to what the land was like in 1836, when the founders of Galesburg arrived, and back to what the land was like for thousands of years before 1836, when what became rich, black farm land was prairie."

"Bur Oaks are not considered as valuable for lumber as White Oak," Allison explained. "The wood doesn't work as easily, so they were often allowed to grow rather than cutting them down. The fact that this tree was at Lake Storey, in a city park, that's another reason that this one survived."

Tourlentes credits interested local residents and Galesburg city officials with saving the tree from being disposed of, after it was blown down on July 10, 2016.

"City Arborist Ryan Creek basically said, 'don't cut or chip up this tree!' Tony Oligney-Estill and all of the Galesburg Parks and Recreation Department have spent many hours from July through now, to save major parts of the tree," Tourlentes said.

City officials donated smaller sections to local educators and sold the larger portions to the general public.

"The tree sections will be great resources for research and learning," Tourlentes said. "Hopefully, they will spark connections and exploring for a wide range of subjects, including science, math, art, history, and more."

Above, Stuart Allison and crew make a delivery; below discussing the tree outside Costa Catholic Academy; Knox students delivering a tree section to Galesburg High School; Allison taking a rest on a piece of tree in a truck bed.