Natural Land Institute’s Legacy Tree Program announced the 2025 June Tree of the month is the iconic American Elm, Ulmus americana, located in front of The Marlowe Center for Philanthropy, home of the Community Foundation of Northern Illinois (CFNIL), 946 N. Second Street, in Rockford, IL. This historical and beautiful Elm is 66-feet tall, has 81-feet of crown spread, and [boasts a] circumference of 145.2 inches.
The June Tree of the Month was nominated by Jennifer Smith, Engagement Director for the CFNIL. In the nomination form, Jennifer said, “The tree is in exceptional shape for its age, size, and proximity to a major roadway that has been widened (and widened…) over the years. Also, the property where it is located was in danger of conversion to a parking lot as recently as 2001. The tree fits well in the context of the Arts & Crafts home on the property and the wooded nature of the neighborhood across the street to the east. It is an enormous, beautiful tree whose crown spread covers a significant portion of the front half of this lot.”
American Elm is an iconic tree to the eastern United States and adjacent Canada and is a common locally-native tree. It was prized as the perfect “street tree”, because it is easy to transplant, tolerant of disturbed soils, fast growing, was long-lived. American Elms produce a high canopy for shade, while allowing plenty of clearance beneath its canopy for landscaping, roadways, and structures. Streets lined with American Elms across the Country created tunnels of shade, lowering the summer temperature of communities and buffering the winter extremes, while allowing winter’s warming sun in. Then disaster struck–a fungal disease known as Dutch elm disease (DED), was accidentally imported on logs of foreign elms. That infected this native tree, which had virtually no resistance. Within a few decades nearly all American Elms were killed a lesson in planting a diversity of trees.
Young American Elms are immune to the disease, but once they reach about one-foot in diameter, they become susceptible to the disease and are killed Any large tree remaining is a local treasure and, likely, has resistance to the omnipresent disease, as long as it is routinely treated for the disease by certified Arborists. This magnificent American Elm is one such survivor and a sight to behold, with its classic vase shape of spreading limbs with branches that are pendant around the edge of its canopy. The tree was likely planted shortly after the home was built for Charles Lundberg in 1915. Images from the Rockford Chamber of Commerce’s 1917 book “The presentation in pictorial form of the Story of Rockford” shows this Elm as a young tree.
American Elms are also great for Nature The tiny flowers open in late March and produce ripe seeds by May, that are relished by songbirds. They are a favorite food of the American Goldfinch and Purple Finch and mammals, like squirrels and chipmunks. Many species of insects call the tree home, creating a wealth of caterpillars refueling millions of northward-migrating, neotropical birds. Locally nesting songbirds feed their young. The sheer biomass of life these trees once produced and sustained is a topic not well researched or discussed. The downfall of the species was an ecological disaster we still have not recovered from. The economic impact is equally as tragic. The term “city heat island” was not even a concept before the tree’s demise. Currently popular urban street trees do not remotely provide the ecosystem services the American Elm once did.
Alan Branhagen, Executive Director of Natural Land Institute (NLI), said, “Any remaining American Elms this size or larger should be protected. We ask that if you know of an American Elm of 4-feet in diameter or larger, please nominate it as a Legacy Tree. We will certainly share locations with researchers studying DED resistance in American Elm. These trees can be used for breeding more disease-resistant trees. Mature American Elms in Dahlquist Park and Deer Run Forest Preserve are on the list already.”
Branhagen added, “It is fitting that this magnificent American Elm still stands in front of our community’s organization that does so much good for the Region. American Elm is as American as apple pie. Most Horticulturists would agree it is the most beautiful and magnificent of the world’s elms–reaching heights over 100 feet tall, with trunk diameters over 8-feet, and formerly living for centuries. May this tree carry on for another century or more and provide inspiration to all that life can prevail through the toughest of times.”