HOULTON, Maine — Growing up in Houlton in the 1960s, Helen Morehouse can still remember the expansive elm trees that towered over numerous streets in the community.
“They were absolutely beautiful,” the Hartford, Connecticut, resident recollected on Friday. “I can still recall the shade those lovely trees created for us in the summer, when it was so hot that all of us girls would gather up our dolls and play for hours under the branches. I feel badly, now, because we really did take them for granted.”
Like many other communities in Maine, the elm tree was a fixture in Houlton. Hundreds of the trees lined streets throughout the town, and provided inspiration for names of streets and businesses. The trees began to disappear, however, with the onset of Dutch elm disease.
Morehouse, who lived in Houlton until 1985, recalled when some of the trees started dying in the community.
In this file photo, Catherine “Kay” Bell, right, and Phil Bernaiche, both Houlton residents who have since passed away, plant disease resistant elm and maple trees on the grounds of the Aroostook County Superior Courthouse in Houlton in June, 2006. Houlton once had myriad elm trees, but lost most to Dutch elm disease. Bell spearheaded an effort to plant 200 new trees to coincide with the town’s bicentennial in 2007. (JEN LYNDS)
“Funnily enough, one of my good friends lived on Elm Street,” she said. “And her brother had this wonderful tree house that his father had built in an elm tree in their backyard. It seemed like one day, that tree was healthy, and the next, we weren’t allowed to play in that treehouse anymore. They cut down the tree that next summer, I believe. It was that quick.”
Catherine “Kay” Bell, the former curator of the Aroostook Historical and Art Museum who passed away in 2016, spearheaded a fundraising and tree planting project in 2006 to coincide with the town’s 2007 bicentennial. Bell set a goal to plant 200 new trees in the community by 2007 to honor Houlton’s 200th birthday, and also to replace the myriad trees lost to Dutch elm disease.
“We used to have so many beautiful trees in this community,” she recalled at the time. “But then that disease came along and just wiped them out. People were cutting them down left and right. It was awful to see.”
The first disease resistant elm and maple trees – eight in all – were planted on the Aroostook County Superior Courthouse grounds. Volunteers later planted trees in areas around Pleasant and Winter streets and along Highland Avenue, Court Street, near Pierce Park and on Charles Street.
Jessica Chamberlain of Houlton said that she and her three children planted a red maple tree on their front lawn in honor of the bicentennial.
“My children heard about the project from Ms. Bell at the library,” she said. “They were very excited about it and asked if we could plant one. I was a bit afraid for it that first winter, because we got a lot of snow, but it is doing pretty well.”
