USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > New Haven > New Haven, a book recording the varied activities of the author in his efforts over many years to promote the welfare of the city of his adoption since 1883, together with some researches into its storied past and many illustrations > Part 9
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58 Built in 1767 by John Pierpont, grandson of the Rev. James Pierpont.
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Systematic Planting of Elms Begun in 1759
The first systematic planting of trees on the Green took place about 1759. In his "Chronicles," Mr. Blake says on P. 21 :
"About 1759 occurred the first important step in the improvement of the Green by the planting of shade trees. Dr. Dexter, in his paper on New Haven in 1784, refers to it, quot- ing from an 'Essay on Tree Planting,' written by Jared Eliot in 1760, which contains the only contemporary account of it so far as I know. Eliot says: 'I observed in New Haven they have planted a range of trees all around the market place and secured them from the ravages of beasts. This was an undertaking truly generous and laudable. It is a pity they were not mulberry instead of buttonwood and elm.' "
This Jared Eliot, then living in Guilford and the John Evelyn58ª of the Colony, was a grandson of John Eliot, the Apostle to the Indians. He wrote several learned treatises, published in the form of pamphlets, at New London. His regret that the trees just planted were not mulberry instead of buttonwood and elm, is interesting as reflecting the great inter- est felt at that time in New England in the cultivation of the silkworm. Just why the sycamore was chosen for planting with the elm is not clear. The sycamore is not an uncommon tree in this locality and is not ornamental. Professor Brewer thinks the sycamore may have been chosen on account of its size and striking appearance. Professor Dexter suggests that the large buttonwood tree now standing in Elm Street nearly opposite the First Methodist Church may be a relic of the planting of 1759.58b Another sycamore of great size and prob- ably of about the same age, stands in front of Grove Hall, built in 1762 by James Abraham Hillhouse, Esq., uncle of Mr. James Hillhouse, to whom the city owes so much. Probably some of the large elms in the row surrounding the Green and
53a John Evelyn, 1620-1706; virtuoso, diarist, author of "Sylva or a Dis- course on Forest Trees and the Propagation of Timber," pub. London, 1664.
53b "New Haven in 1784" by Franklin B. Dexter.
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outside the fence, survive from the planting of 1759. These trees of the planting of 1759 were placed around, not on, the Green.
In his brochure, already referred to, Professor Dexter writing of the Green as it appeared in 1784, says :
"Two hundred and fifty buttonwood and elm trees set out in 1759 around the Green, were now half grown. On the Green itself no trees were standing."
Rev. Samuel Peters, in his "General History of Connecti- cut" (London, 1781), described New Haven as "the most beautiful town in New England if not in all America"; and since the town itself had no notable buildings at the time, the conclusion must be that the Tory parson was impressed by the trees around the Green. It is painful to have to add that New Haven had a far less favorable opinion of Dr. Peters.
Dr. Manasseh Cutler left a lively account of a visit to New Haven in 1787 in which he says that the trees planted around the Green in 1759 were then large and added much to its beauty. Dr. Cutler also made special mention of a row of trees very lately set out across the center of the Green "in a line with the State House, two large meeting-houses and the grammar schoolhouse."
"This row of trees along what is now Temple Street," says Mr. Blake (p. 26), "was the first planting inside the Green, and was the precursor of the more extensive tree-planting between that date [1787] and 1796 by Mr. Hillhouse and Mr. Austin." This row of trees does not appear in President Stiles's map of 1775, and must therefore have been planted between that date and 1787, when Dr. Cutler visited New Haven. It is more than likely that these trees were set out as late as 1784, after the incorporation of the town of New Haven into the city of New Haven.
At the time (1779) of the British invasion, General Garth remarked that the town was "too pretty to burn."
These tributes to the beauty of New Haven, even in those early days, must be placed to the credit of the trees around and on the Green.
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The "Great Planting" on the Green Between 1784-1796
The incorporation of New Haven into a city in January, 1784, gave rise to a new feeling-to the consciousness that the ,place had entered upon a new order. It was a period of "upbuilding and preparation," a period of emulation. New Haven had been exhausted by the Revolutionary struggle, but the struggle was over, and stimulated and united by her part in it, she felt prepared to take her place with the best-with New York, Boston and Philadelphia.
But the city fathers of the new city were not so affected by "the nameless splendor in the air" as to lose their self-control. In Levermore's "Republic of New Haven" (Baltimore, 1886), he says :
"All the work of the Board of Health was performed at its own expense. Most of the public improvements of the time in the way of adornment or of more efficient sanitation, were dependent upon private funds and private energy. One of the very first acts of the City Government, in February, 1784, was to vote that 'any gentleman who might agree to defray the expense' could enclose the southeastern part of the Green so as to admit footmen only, sufficient room being allowed for carriages before the public buildings" (p. 242).
I suspect that the vote above quoted may have proceeded from some appeal made by Mr. Hillhouse and his associates to the city fathers for funds for public improvements, includ- ing the "adornment" of the Green.
Mr. Levermore goes on to say (pp. 242-3) :
"First and foremost in these enterprises were two public- spirited and wealthy citizens, David Austin and James Hill- house. To them principally were due the rescue of the Green from its primitive savagery, its enclosure within fences, and its adornment with trees."
Howe says on page 398 of "Atwater's History":
"The great planting of the elms had its inception in the order issued from the Common Council, September 22, 1784, and approved in city meeting June 5, 1787, for the laying out
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THE RISE AND FALL OF THE CITY OF ELMS.
of Temple Street to Grove Street. The avenue, through the Hillhouse farm, 105 feet wide, now Hillhouse Avenue, was surveyed and laid out and the elms planted in 1792, the guid- ing stakes being driven by a young man by the name of Day, in the employ of Mr. Hillhouse. Our informant had this information from Mr: Day himself, when he was a venerable old gentleman occupying the position of president of Yale College."
James Hillhouse, the Prime Mover
It thus appears that the systematic planting of trees in New Haven was begun in 1759, when 250 buttonwood and elm trees were set out around the Green. Hillhouse took up this work between twenty-five and thirty years later and carried it on into the Green itself and in the adjoining streets. His plant- ing was confined to elms so far as I can learn, and his greatest work of planting, aside from that on the Green, was the planting of what is now Hillhouse Avenue.
Speaking of Mr. Hillhouse, Mr. Howe says :
"Men of far-seeing, hopeful and creative spirit like Hill- house were then, as ever, rare. He was a born genius for leadership and an untiring worker. He would at any time throw off his coat and take hold and labor with his hands on the roughest, hardest work, when by so doing he could expedite an enterprise. He set the little town, which had then less than a thousand families, agog, so that even chil- dren were aroused to help him. Among the boys who assisted was Ogden Edwards, born in 1781, afterward a New . York City judge, and Henry Baldwin, born in 1779, afterward a judge of the Supreme Court of the United States. The latter once said in the presence of Mrs. Worthington Hooker, then a young lady, and a daughter of Governor Edwards : 'I held many an elm while Hillhouse shoveled in the earth.' Even the girls caught the enthusiasm. There was, for instance, Caroline Shipman, who became Mrs. Garnet Duncan of Louisville, Ky. She was a daughter of Elias Shipman, a leading merchant, who lived in the house now occupied by
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the Quinnipiack Club. She watered the trees which Hillhouse had planted along Chapel Street in front of her house, and with her own hands set out an elm." Atwater's History, p. 398.
Hillhouse had the support of the citizens and inspired and led a really popular movement for beautifying the city. Peo- ple get what they want when they unite on wanting the same thing, as the citizens seem to have done under the leadership of Hillhouse.
I do not wish to belittle the work of the Rev. David Austin,53b but he was a resident of Elizabethtown, N. J., from 1788 to 1797, and could have had no part in the work during those years. I believe that most of the credit belongs to Mr. Hill- house. Tradition asserts this view, and the records support it.
The Money for the "Great Planting" Raised by Subscription
Some years ago, when examining a collection of papers belonging to the New Haven Colony Historical Society, then housed in the old State House on the Green, Professor Brewer accidentally came upon Mr. Hillhouse's report, showing how the money he had raised by subscription for the "great planting" had been expended. The report stated that the trees were planted for beautifying the city, for their shade, and for preventing the sand from washing away. The expenditures were for trees, for labor, and-shall it be again recorded ?- for rum.
Professor Brewer was at the time searching for information regarding the introduction of merino sheep into this country by General David Humphreys and therefore did not make notes of the Hillhouse report, which has now unfortunately disappeared.
Mr. Hillhouse was at the time of the "great planting" one of the foremost men of the city as to means, education, social
53b "Born Mch. 19, 1759; Y. C. 1779; Set. Elizabethtown, N. J., 1788 to 1797; Chaplain 2d Conn. Regt. under Col. Hez. Howe in War of 1812; preached in Norwich, Ct .; was deranged on the subject of the restoration of the Jews; he was a very talented and eloquent preacher but eccentric, erratic and extravagant in manner of speaking, thinking and acting; d. Feb. 5, 1831." (Tuttle Family, 1883, p. 525.)
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THE RISE AND FALL OF THE CITY OF ELMS.
position and public service. No wonder that his example gave a great impetus to the adornment of the infant city.
High over the mantelpiece in a spacious room overlooking the city, in the fine mansion5+ at the head of the avenue that bears his name, hangs his portrait by Vanderlyn. His serious look betokens deep thought. What is he thinking of, I wonder ; and what would he say were he to walk these streets to-day and again visit the old Green and see what time and neg- lect have wrought with the trees he planted with such care with his own hands?
According to Howe, Professor A. C. Twining saw Mr. Hill- house setting out elms on the Green about 1808. From this it would appear to me that he was vigilant to replace those saplings that died or failed to thrive-more than we are doing to-day. Mr. Hillhouse is also credited with setting out a row of elms in 1808 on the upper Green in line with, and probably near, College Street. Some of these were removed when the Methodist Society built a meeting house on the northwest corner of the Green in 1821, and still more were removed when the State House was built in 1828.
The Planting of 1839
The last considerable planting was done in 1839 when 150 maples and elms, principally maples, were set out by order of the Common Council on the upper Green, which up to this time had remained nearly bare of trees. Maples were pre- ferred at that time as not subject to the attack of the measuring or canker worm, which had ravaged the elms the previous year.
The Elms at the Height of their Magnificence in 1865
The planting of the Green took place between 1759 and 1839, a period of eighty years. While there is abundant evi- dence to show that, as early as the days of the Revolutionary 54 Built 1828-30 by his son James Abraham Hillhouse, the author of "Hadad"; Alexander Jackson Davis, architect. James Hillhouse died December 29, 1832, in the mansion which is now the residence of his grand- nephew, James Hillhouse, Esqr.
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War the trees around the Green gave great charm to New Haven, I am satisfied from my examination of old paintings, drawings and photographs, that the elms on the Green were at the height of their glory about 1865. I am confirmed in this view by Professor Dexter, who came to New Haven to live in 1857. But their beauty was not, as I am bound to believe, the result of affectionate and intelligent care. It resulted in spite of neglect born of the fatuous old-fashioned idea that the trees would get along very well if let alone, and because New Haven was peculiarly well adapted to the growth of elms. The seeds of decay, though unperceived or ignored by the community at large, had, however, been quietly at work. Left unprotected by trunk-guards and therefore horse-bitten, gouged by vehicle wheels, used as hitching posts, pruned so as to invite decay, girdled by guy ropes and guy wires, deprived of water by badly laid pavements, burned and barked by electric wires, having their root systems drenched with escaping gas from leaky mains, and their main brace-roots cut and hacked in laying curbs and regrading streets, the decaying trees began to give way. Weakened in these ways, and by the impov- erished condition of the soil of the Green, they became less able to resist a new foe, the elm leaf beetle, which, though imported into this country from Europe about 1834, seems not to have reached New Haven until about 1891. The beetle then wrought terrible injury. Some trees died outright, and every storm threw great branches to the ground and disclosed hidden weakness and old decay. Many trees were then con- demned as unsafe and cut down; the celebrated elms of New Haven had fallen on evil days.
The Great Storm of 1893
In July, 1893, a great windstorm wrought sad havoc with the trees in front of the North Church. The citizens, ever complacent, put all the blame on the storm, instead of shoul- dering any part of it themselves. The gale was perhaps no heavier than many that the trees had weathered before, but the trees were weaker. Nor was their weakness the weakness
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of old age; it was the weakness arising from such forms of neglect as I have specified. With a great hole in the Temple Street arch, the citizens had something in a conspicuous place to remind them of their duty. At last, nearly 150 years after the first planting, the city as a city began to wake up.
The Shade Tree Committee of 1900
"Attention having been called to the decaying and unsafe condition of the beautiful shade trees of the city of New Haven, in September, 1900, Mayor Cornelius T. Driscoll called a meeting of citizens, who were interested in the preservation of the city shade trees, and who had special knowledge of the subject, to confer regarding the condition of the trees. This meeting resulted in the appointment of a committee con- sisting of the following members: His honor, Mayor C. T. Driscoll, chairman; Professor W. H. Brewer of Yale Univer- sity ; Dr. E. H. Jenkins, director of the Connecticut Agri- cultural Experiment Station; Professor Henry S. Graves, director of the Yale Forest School; Dr. W. E. Britton, horti- culturist at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station ; ex-Mayor J. B. Sargent; Mr. Henry T. Blake, president of the New Haven Park Commission; Philip Hugo, director of the Department of Public Works; John J. Brennan, super- intendent of streets, and ex-Alderman Felix Chillingworth.
"A subcommittee, consisting of Dr. Jenkins, chairman ; Professor Graves, Mr. Britton and Mr. Blake, was appointed and requested to further study the matter and prepare a full report of their findings."
The above quotation from the introduction to the printed report explains itself. The report was submitted, and that was the end of it. The city did not at first even print the report; it was printed for the State of Connecticut by the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station through the efforts of Dr. Edward H. Jenkins. But if the report was not valued here, its value was appreciated elsewhere, and was called for from all parts of the country, giving New Haven,
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no doubt, the reputation of being a very progressive com- munity, when, indeed, the citizens were paying no attention to the report, much less acting upon its recommendations. Later on some copies of the report were printed at the expense of the city and carefully put in a closet somewhere in the City Hall-so I am told at any rate.
The report made these recommendations :
Recommendations of Mayor Driscoll's Committeemen
"I. The rigid enforcement of those city ordinances which forbid the bruising, injuring, or destruction of trees, and the fastening of animals to trees in such a way as to injure them.
"2. That all trees standing within reach of horses in the street be protected by frames or wire netting, so that they cannot be mutilated.
"3. That, when limbs are removed from trees, greater care be exercised to cut them smoothly, close to and even with the trunk and without tearing the trunk bark. The exposed wood should be painted with coal tar.
"4. That the stringing of electric wires be done only under the supervision of the Board of Public Works, and that this supervision be paid for by the company doing the work.
"5. That, when trees are killed by gas leakage from the mains, the owners of the mains be required to pay to the city the cost of the removal of the trees killed and of planting new trees in their places.
"6. That the land under trees in the city parks be annually dressed with lime and with odorless fertilizer of the compo- sition named, at a cost of from $II to $12 per acre.
"7. That on new streets, when the building line is far enough from the street line, it is desirable to plant just in front of the property line, rather than just back of the curb.
"8. That the elm trees on the Green and other interior parks of the city be sprayed regularly for a few years, and thereafter as seems necessary, in the way prescribed.
"For this purpose the city should buy a spraying outfit of approved construction, such as has been described, costing about $500.
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"9. That in winter systematic search be made in all belfries and towers of public buildings, and that the elm leaf beetles, which winter in great numbers in such places, be gathered up and destroyed.
* "IO. We also recommend the permanent employment of a city forester, who should have charge of the trees in all respects.
"II. That, in case such an officer be employed, the city have a nursery of from three to five acres at Springside Farm, where trees suitable for planting on the streets and interior parks can be grown."
Had these recommendations been put into practice New Haven would have been on the road to redemption. But as stated, little attention was paid to the report (except outside the city), and I daresay few to-day know that there ever was such a tree committee, or that such a report was ever made.
The recommendations will repay careful reading. Every- one of thení has its message to the citizens of to-day.
The Tree Pests Always with Us
The insect enemies of our trees are always, or nearly always, with us, though the species change. The years of "invasions" or "scourges" are merely years when, for one reason or another, the insects get ahead of their natural enemies. Thus the elm leaf beetle seems ordinarily to be held in check in this region by a fungus which appears about the first of August, if the weather is wet. If the weather is dry, the fungus is developed only slightly and the beetles, unchecked, enormously increase in numbers. One or two successive seasons of dry weather about the first of August result in an "invasion" of beetles. This has been the condition for the last three or four years.
Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr.'s, Warning Unheeded
Last May, during one of Mr. Olmsted's visits to New Haven in connection with his work upon the New Haven City
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Improvement plan, he was disturbed to find that the trees on the old Green were being ravaged by elm leaf beetles which, he said, were unusually numerous, and urged that steps be imme- diately taken to spray the trees. He knew what it seems very hard for this community to accept, i. e., that successive defolia- tions by beetles for two or three years will either kill the trees outright or so weaken them that they will die in a short time. I at once enlisted the services of our state entomologist, Dr. W. E. Britton, who examined the trees, writing a letter which was published with one of my own in one of our morning papers. Action was urged but not taken.
Public Willing to Spend Money on Fireworks but Nothing to Save the Trees
The public continued to view the trees as works of nature able to take care of themselves; public funds were appro- priated for one thing and another in the usual course, includ- ing about $1,000 for fireworks, music and an expensive illum- ination of the Green for the Fourth of July, but nothing what- ever was done to save the trees. In the early part of July it was painfully apparent to all what a terrible price had been paid for neglecting to spray the trees. Everywhere leaves were dropping, some trees were in large part defoliated; some were stripped as bare as in winter. In all parts of the city the trees were suffering; but, on account perhaps of their exposed position, those on the Green appeared to be suffering the most. A cry went up in the papers, and on July II, under the direc- tion of the Board of Public Works, some of the trees on the Green were sprayed-sprayed after the beetles had "done their worst," and when it was too late to do more, perhaps, than destroy a few beetles against this year. Dr. Britton again explained the situation and told the community what to do :
"I. Destroy all of the bright yellow pupæ at the base of the trees and in the crevices of the bark.
"2. Hunt for beetles in houses, barns, attics, church bel- fries and out-buildings during the fall, winter and early spring and destroy them.
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THE RISE AND FALL OF THE CITY OF ELMS.
"3. Arrange to spray the trees with poison next year."
If anything was done in a public way in compliance with these suggestions I have yet to learn it.
A Teakettle Brigade
About this time our citizens were urged (a newspaper sug- gestion) to bring out their teakettles and pour hot water on the pupæ. This suggestion was not taken seriously, though if every citizen had turned out and poured hot water on the pupæ on the ground at the base of the trees, this year's crop of beetles would have been greatly reduced. Some arbori- culturists recommend the destruction of the pupæ as a better remedy than spraying. In passing I may say that the pouring of hot water on the trunks of trees is likely to injure them and should be avoided. I do not refer to this hot water remedy to make fun of it, but just to show that our citizens will not avail themselves of good remedies costing nothing but a little time and labor. Individual initiative cannot be relied upon.
The University Authorities Set Example by Spraying the Campus Elms, which were Saved
Here I might say that, upon the first appearance of the beetles last spring-beetles that had survived in myriads from the year before-Professor James W. Toumey of the Yale Forest School, in the absence of Professor Graves, the director of the School, took up the matter with the University authori- ties and succeeded in getting a sufficient appropriation to defray the cost of spraying the college elms. In this matter he was warmly seconded by Mr. Lee McClung, the treasurer of the University. The trees on the Campus and in the college . grounds were sprayed in June. One hundred and seventy-four trees were sprayed for the University and sixteen for private" owners, under the direction of Mr. John H. Murray of the Yale Botanical Garden, at a cost of $290.75. The trees on the University grounds were also sprayed in 1902, and the trunks of some trees were sprayed in August, 1907.
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It is gratifying to have the University take the lead in this matter of caring for the elms. It is an educational matter and in all such matters the University should take the lead. The community has a right to expect it. Having started, it is to be hoped that the University will not stop at spraying the trees, but will at once take the lead in planting elms and other desirable species on all ground held by the University in the city. I have particularly in mind, not the old or the new Campus, but the Yale Field, the approaches to which are quite as much in need of beautifying as any one thing in the city. If the Yale Field is to remain where it is, is it too much to ask that the administrators of the big athletic reserve fund shall use enough of it to redeem the field from its ugliness? The main recreation ground of the students should present a better appearance to the tens of thousands of people who come here every year and get no idea of Yale except from the Yale Field.55
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