The West Dallas Gateway Pecan Tree stands on North Beckley near the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge. Photo by Emma Ruby.
You’ve likely never paid much attention to the looming Pecan tree that sits in an island of land on North Beckley Avenue, but after standing for 175 years, that tree has certainly seen a thing or two.
If only branches could talk.
But according to Katherine Homan, the president of the Fort Worth Avenue Development Group, the tree’s survival has been a miracle in and of itself.
Homan said that after living through “the birth of Dallas,” the tree was nearly removed for the routing of Beckley Avenue. Don Raines, a city of Dallas Planning and Urban Design planner from Oak Cliff, helped route the road around the tree, Homan said, but it has since been hit by multiple cars.
“I called the arborist and said, you know, can you get a railing around it or something, Â it’s been hit. And he said, ‘The only way you can protect the tree is to get it declared historic.'” Homan said. “So, okay, I will do this.”
Large cinderblocks now stand as a barrier between cars and the tree, a temporary solution.
The former U.S. History teacher took it upon herself to go through the process of applying for historic status for the pecan tree, and after this weekend, it will finally get the reverence Homan believes it deserves.
On April 16, the Texas Historic Tree Coalition will declare the tree historic and Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Omar Narvaez will dedicate a memorial plaque at the site.
The proclamation presentation will be given at noon at Lake Cliff Park, and the memorial plaque will be dedicated at the tree site at 2 p.m.
“This tree was where everything happened before the city was established,” Homan said. “This is something that we need to know about, and that we need to revere, because it’s still alive and it has survived everything that this city had to survive.”
And, it’s about more than just the tree, Homan said.
She believes the tree represents the spirit and grit of the people of Dallas.
“Dallas is the same way, you know, we have no reason to be here, except that we want to be here and we want to thrive,” Homan said.
