Lite of the mind (a light-hearted look at all things Chicago)
Trees on the move
By Amy Braverman Puma
Photography by Dan Dry
Construction for the Mansueto Library, west of the Regenstein, has begun. The tennis courts along Ellis are gone, along with several of the site’s trees—many of which, including those memorializing former librarians, were replanted this May in new campus spots. A dozen oaks and maples, meanwhile, dating to 1970 when the Reg was built, will be given to Skokie-based Horigan Urban Forest Products, says University Planner Richard Bumstead. The harvesting company “reuses trees for furniture, woodwork, cabinets, bowls.” As Bumstead notes, “it’s better than wood chips.”
Five crab apple trees now bloom a block north of the Reg. Planner Richard Bumstead stands near three along 56th Street near the Smart Museum, planted in memory of Ruth Murray, former bibliographer for education, sociology, psychology, and women’s studies. |
Two crab apples, memorializing former music librarian Hans Lenneberg and his regular lunch companion, former bibliographer for English and American literature, classical philology, and modern poetry Charles Helzer, stand along Ellis near the Young parking lot.
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 Bumstead also found new homes for three bald cypress trees (not memorials), two south of Max Palevsky Central and one west of Bartlett. After a 2006 storm downed many campus trees, this cypress, and all others still standing, got tagged. |
Three lilacs, honoring former head of reference Christine Reb Longstreet, wouldn’t survive a move; they’ll be replaced on the Mansueto site. A thornless cockspur northwest of the Reg, named for former Slavic bibliographer Vaclav Laska, AM’64, AM’72, will stay put.
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