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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Landmarks: Whitworth Tree played host to many a young couple

Stefanie Pettit

Young couples at Whitworth University who wanted a little privacy back in the 1930s would make their way through the woods at the north end of campus, referred to at the time as the Back 40, to a bent ponderosa pine tree and sit there “to spoon.”

The tree – which became known as the Whitworth Tree – was a perfect site, as its trunk took a nearly 90-degree turn about 6 inches above the ground and grew horizontally just far enough for two people to sit on before reaching skyward to well over 60 feet. The tree’s bench was much visited up through the 1950s, according to Tad Wisenor, assistant vice president for institutional advancement and former director of alumni and parent relations.

The tree has been written about in assorted university publications over the years, especially as it became a place where many a marriage proposal happened. One student wrote in the student newspaper the Whitworthian in 1955 that there was a time “when every male on campus would shake in his boots at the mention of this botanical terror.”

But as time went by, the tree’s popularity began to fade. In 1952 the freshman class president was quoted in the paper: “The Whitworth Tree? Are you serious? I have a car.”

But always aware of tradition, the institution put a fence around the tree in the mid-1980s so that students might know where it was. Wisenor, himself a 1989 graduate of Whitworth, said that there are still alumni who come to campus and ask about the tree.

But progress was going to interfere with the tree’s ultimate survival. As the campus grew and buildings began being constructed along the back side of campus – Duvall Hall and Oliver Hall in particular – additional parking lots were added in the Back 40.

The tree – estimated to have begun growing in the early 1900s – was cordoned off to protect it during construction, according to John Jesseph, arborist and grounds manager at Whitworth, and most of the trees around it were taken down in 2006. In addition, the hill near it was leveled. It was hoped that the tree would survive these changes to its surroundings.

Jesseph said that without the protection of the former topography and the support of roots from its now-gone neighboring trees, it died. The decision was made to cut off most of the vertical portion. But then a windstorm in 2009 torqued the remaining portion of the tree to the ground.

Wisenor said they decided to salvage it, lifted it back into place and bolted it there, though the bench of the tree now rests on the ground. They discussed whether a new Whitworth Tree should be planted nearby, but a happy circumstance solved the problem. A little volunteer ponderosa had already sprung up right next to it that “we think is a sapling from that very tree,” Wisenor said. A decision was made to try to shape the new tree similarly.

“Although the original tree was shaped as it was in nature, maybe from a heavy snow load or something else happening,” Jesseph said, “it’s not difficult to train another tree to grow like it by making the proper cuts, folding it down and placing weights on it.”

The desired bench effect is already in place now and the little tree is beginning its vertical assent toward the sky. “We prune it and take care of it and probably, when it’s 8 or 10 feet tall, we’ll need to stake it so it grows the way we want it to,” he added.

The remains of the original Whitworth Tree, which Wisenor agrees are not in good shape, and its growing successor now reside in a little green space surrounded by flowers in the middle of a parking lot behind Oliver Hall, a large student residence hall.

“We’re going to decide in the next few years if we can keep the original tree,” Wisenor said, “and just let the new tree grow to tell its own story.”

An old tradition is becoming new again.