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Decatur
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A tree grows in Greensburg…The Decatur County Courthouse
Curiosity, on this Moment of Indiana History.
In June 2006, the Honda Corporation gave Indiana history buffs—not
to mention economic forecasters—something to talk about. When officials
at the Japan-based car manufacturer announced plans for the construction
of a new vehicle assembly plant in Greensburg, Indiana, their promotions
team produced a distinctive image. Banners declared “Home Sweet
Honda” on top of an image of Greensburg’s historic downtown.
The city’s identity was unmistakable: the burst of green in the
banner’s upper left corner was the city’s famous tower tree.
One hundred ten feet up, the roof of the Decatur County Courthouse has
sported a tree or two for over a century. The Romanesque Revival-style
courthouse dating to the mid-1850s replaced a series of structures that
had served that purpose since 1822, when the county commissioners first
met in a log home. By the early 1870s, Greensburg residents noticed a
green sprig sprouting from the northwest side of the courthouse clock
tower. A subsequent inspection revealed a veritable rooftop grove—five
saplings flourished atop the tower with no apparent source of nutrition
until 1888, when structural concerns prompted the removal of several of
them. Since then, the courthouse roof has provided the substrate for a
series of trees—the largest reaching fifteen feet in height and
five inches in diameter at its base.
Though one of its predecessors was identified by the Smithsonian Institution
as a large tooth aspen, the tree that graces the tower these days has
been determined by Purdue forestry experts to be a mulberry. The tower
trees have been incorporated into the city’s iconography since the
early twentieth century, appearing on postcards and in promotional literature.
Greensburg has held the Tree City Fall Festival since 1980. The courthouse
underwent a major renovation and expansion in 1994, during which the arboreal
icon remained undisturbed.
This Moment of Indiana History is a production of the Indiana Public
Broadcasting Stations in association with the Indiana Historical Society.
More information is available on-line at “moment of Indiana history.org.”
Writer: Yaël Ksander
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