Landmark Tree Lost in Storm

JACKSONVILLE — There are a lot of limbs, branches, and leaves to be hauled away following weekend storms, but some trees hold a little more meaning than that. A tree with history in Jacksonville didn’t survive the storms. Local resident Kathleen Stanfill spoke with KETK about what her family calls “the big tree.” Stanfill says, “It was just like a place that was familiar. It was just like a place that was home. It was like…it was almost like part of the family, I guess.” An old photo shows Stanfill and her sister Allison, who now owns the property once belonging to their grandparents, playing by the big tree as children. Now the tree’s been cut into pieces after falling over during Saturday night’s storm.

In the 1960s, the Texas Forest Service put the tree on its Big Tree Registry, a list of the biggest of each species. It lost the title for awhile in the 80s, but it quickly got it back, and until this past weekend, it was known as the biggest American elm in the state of Texas, exceeding 21 feet in circumference. After the storms, Stanfill drove to her sister’s house and saw the damage first hand. “I cried,” she says. “I cried like I’d lost a family member. I cried like the rest of the family did.” Stanfill says Jacksonville has lost a landmark. For years, she says, there was a plaque recognizing the designation on Myrtle Drive, and people would often stop to look, something her grandparents were very proud of.