THE TREES OF GREENWICH AVENUE

Dutch Elm Disease first made its appearance in Glenville in Greenwich in 1933. Discovered in the Netherlands fifteen years earlier, it made its way to America through shipments of logs infested with the European elm bark beetles. As the severity of the effects of the disease on elm trees became more and more apparent throughout Greenwich, and in an attempt to stop the spread of infection, aggressive attempts were made to identify, remove and destroy hundreds of these beloved elms that graced our public streets.

Gertrude duPont Howland

Enter Gertrude duPont Howland who noticed in the 1940s “that on Greenwich Avenue the beautiful elm trees that used to be up and down the Avenue were being taken down one by one. . . They were cutting off the trunk as low as they could get it and then cementing over the area, and that was it. Nothing new was being planted. And as one tree after another came down, there was nothing.”

Gertrude Howland decided to make it a personal crusade to bring attention to the “absolutely bare-looking” condition of the Avenue. Oral History Project volunteer Margaret French interviewed her in 1987 to document Howland’s relentless efforts to replant the Avenue. Contacting Joseph Cone, “head of the parks and trees department at the time,” Howland was told that “the reason he couldn’t plant any more trees, to replace the ones taken down, was that it was far too expensive to dig out those huge roots, and that he didn’t know where else he could possibly plant them.” There were concerns about disrupting utility services “which largely ran down in the street and branched out into each building on each side.” Howland was told that there was no comprehensive map of the location of the different utilities.

Looking down Greenwich Avenue from Lewis Street

Faced with these challenges, Howland decided to enlist the help of Green Fingers Garden Club to “simply trot out to the head offices of each of the utilities (electric, telephone, water and gas), get their maps and reduce them to the same scale, superimpose them on each other and presto! You’d have a real master plan of Greenwich Avenue.” This was a monumental and, ultimately, impossible task. The water company “didn’t have the slightest idea.” The electric and telephone company had sketchy maps “but they were the best they had.” The most discouraging response was from the sewer and drain department who said “some of those things went back to colonial times and were undoubtedly made of wood.” There were “no records. . . And the only way they ever found out was when something broke.”

Cone advised her to engage an engineer to examine the basement of each building on the Avenue in order to make a record of where the utilities enter from the outside. Howland approached Willard DeVaul of S. E. Minor engineering firm in Greenwich, and he not only agreed to do the job, but he did it for free. DeVaul believed the project was worthwhile and “he seemed to enjoy doing it. The three of us (including Bea Rogers, another member of Green Fingers) had a real nice time because some of those basements were perfectly fascinating. What you found there!”

This aspect of the project took a number of months. However, when the drawings were presented, yet another stumbling block to planting trees surfaced. They were told “that with all the increasing traffic up and down Greenwich Avenue, no tree would possibly live, and it was silly to spend money on planting something that was certainly going to die.” Undaunted, Howland solicited help from the Bronx Botanical Garden “to come out and advise us. . . We got a man, and he went up and down Greenwich Avenue with us, and he was terribly supportive and pleased at our idea. . . He advised two kinds: the pin oak and a very new kind of locust called a moraine.” This new thornless variety of locust was so new “he thought we would have trouble finding any big enough for a street.” After phoning countless nurseries, a number of them were found.

However, the issues that Mr. Cone, “a very respected, liked man in town and at Town Hall,” had with the prospective trees, continued. There were additional concerns that the tree roots would make the pavements uneven and that citizens would fall and sue the town; that the roots would break the water mains; that the trees would disturb the flow of air to apartments overhead; and “that the use of public moneys in so dangerous a manner” could not be approved.

Lastly, Howland lamented, before planting any trees, written permission would need to be obtained from the owner of each building. “Half the people that owned them (the businesses) weren’t even living in Greenwich.” To Howland’s surprise and dismay, she discovered that numerous store renters were opposed to trees because of their issues with leaves that drop, that become slippery in rain, and that obscure window displays.

Green Fingers Garden Club planting a
tree on Greenwich Avenue

Help came in the visage of Mr. Mayer H. Cohen, who owned several buildings on the Avenue and was president of the local merchants’ association at the time. “Somebody told us that he was very influential with the people on the street, and that if we could get him to let us plant trees in front of his buildings, it would make a great difference. . . Not only did he permit us to plant trees, he spoke to the others at some merchants’ meeting and, in no time at all, permissions were flowing in.”

Greenwich Garden Club planting a
tree on Greenwich Avenue

According to Mrs. Howland, this whole process took about eight years. Local garden club contributions and private donations helped “to keep it going.” Howland continued, “Well, you see, there were so many obstacles to be overcome, and each time I thought it was the last hurdle. But, of course, it never was.”

Joseph Dietrich, who succeeded Joseph Cone, was “not only supportive, he was enthusiastic about the idea. And he agreed that Greenwich Avenue should have trees all up and down.” At the first official planting of pin oaks, there was a gathering of garden club members, Mr. Dietrich, and the press to mark the grand occasion.

Christmas lights on Greenwich Avenue in the 1950s

Mrs. Howland concluded, “Well, it’s been satisfying. I really get a tremendous kick at Christmastime seeing those trees all covered with Christmas lights. I’m really very happy to see it.”

The interview entitled “Missions Accomplished” may be read in its entirety at Greenwich Library and is available for purchase at the Oral History Project office. The OHP is sponsored by the Friends of Greenwich Library. Visit the project's website at glohistory.org. Our narrator’s recollections are personal and have not been subject to factual scrutiny.

Mary Jacobson, OHP Blog Editor