One Tree, One Town

by Glenn C. Koenig, Webmaster at Town Wide Mall

Maynard, MA - On Monday night, August 3rd, at around 11 PM, Maynard lost a tree that was older than the town itself.

The tree at left, planted in 1870, ...

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… is now gone.

Tuesday morning, I was walking back home from dropping a car off for service. I happened to glance up Maple Street and saw what had happened. The tree had broken at the very bottom of the trunk, just above ground level, crashing to the ground.  It had hit the power lines as it fell, requiring Eversource to be called in.
As I was taking a few photos of the scene, David Mark, who lives in the area, happened to drive up.  He stopped to explain that he had heard a crash, after which their electricity went out.  It came back on soon but then went out again, for a longer period.  

The Response

Right after the tree fell Monday night, crews from the Public Works Department were called in to cut up the trunk and limbs in order to move everything off to the side, in order to reopen the road to traffic. 

Later the next day, they returned with trucks, a front end loader, and other equipment to remove all the wood and debris and transport it to the storage yard at the end of Pine Hill Road.

I stopped by the Town Building Wednesday afternoon to talk with Justin DeMarco, Director of Public Works, about how they typically handle something like this.  He told me that each case is different.  The town does not have a bucket truck or a crane, so if the tree had been damaged but still standing, they would have to had call in a contractor to cut off any hanging limbs above.  But in this case, as the entire tree was lying on the ground, they didn’t need to do that; they could complete the work themselves.

The Challenge

There is a constant need for tree work around town, as many trees along the streets are large and old and on town property, so the town must take care of them when something happens.  If the town has the right equipment and town employees can do the work, they can get the job done more quickly and for a lower cost compared to having an outside contractor brought in.

For example, an item presented at the annual town meeting was for the purchase of an industrial wood chipper for $75,000, capable of handling the remains of an entire tree on site.  After some debate, the purchase was approved, but the lead time before delivery of the machine means that the town hasn’t received it yet.
​This is why all the debris from this tree had to be carted away whole instead, including even the smallest branches.

Typical industrial wood chipper used by municipalities and tree contractors.

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If the town has a lot of damaged trees in a short time frame, such as when a storm with very high winds or a hurricane comes through, the demand on contractors who do tree work goes way up and the delay in getting one to come in to do the work increases.  With its own equipment, the town is in a better position to get roads opened again quickly, especially to allow emergency vehicles to get through.

History

As I was taking photos for this story, David Mark drove by and stopped to talk with me.  I learned from him the approximate time when the crash occurred and the subsequent loss of electricity, as he lives in the neighborhood.
He used to write a column for the Beacon Villager, Maynard’s local newspaper, before it ceased publishing in 2022. He now writes a column for The Maynard Voice, and has published three books on the history of the town.

He also explained that maple trees were planted along both sides of Maple street in 1870, one year before Maynard officially became a town, in 1871 (although plans to create the town had been going on for a few years already).  Prior to that, the area was known as “Assabet Village” and sat roughly on the border between Stow, Sudbury, adjacent to Acton.  (photo of Maple Street in 1800 provided by David Mark)

By 2020, the tree that just fell was one of the few still standing from that era.
The trunk looks strong from the outside, but inside the advancing rot was hidden.
 (photo provided by David Mark)

The last tree still standing, planted back then, is a little further up towards Concord Street.
Because electric utility lines were brought in long after these trees grew tall, branches had to be pruned to keep them from contacting the wires and causing a short circuit to ground or starting a fire.  That explains the “V” shape that resulted when the center branches were cut away.

Down at the other end, where Maple Street intersects with Brooks and Summer streets, a new maple tree is now growing.
Hopefully, it will stand for the next 100 years or so.

A number of houses on Maple Street were also built in 1870.  A few still have some of the original dentals and other “gingerbread” moldings above the windows, such as the one at the lower right (you’ll have to ignore the satellite dishes to imagine how it looked originally!)

A few years later, starting around 1875, additional houses were constructed in the Mansard Roof style, such as this one, at number 2.
The tree that came down was very near it.

There are other remnants on Maple Street, from that era, such as this iron hitching post.
Remember, in the 1870s, all local transportation was horse drawn; there were no automobiles yet.
The other main form of transportation was the railroad, pulled by steam locomotives.
The railroad has now been removed and replaced with the Assabet River Rail Trail.

Commentary

David is the one who inspired me to start providing this news feed, after we both agreed that Maynard needed some kind of local news source in the absence of a local newspaper.  I created the Town Wide Mall web site and started by publishing my first story in April of 2023, less than a year after the Beacon Villager ceased publication.  The Maynard Voice began publishing online in July of 2025, just over two years later.
As we live here today, we are creating tomorrow’s history.  The town is always changing as people move out and others move in.  The town faces many challenges, but we continue to attempt to address them going forward.  Meanwhile, we have created a vibrant community, with many features that make it an attractive place to live, work, or visit.  Much of this is due to volunteer labor, without which the town could not function nearly as well as it does.