‘The Preacher’s Tree’ of North Winnipeg
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 15/08/2016 (3432 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
How many of you are aware of ‘The Preacher’s Tree,’ a heritage tree of Manitoba?
The tree is an old Manitoba maple located in the front yard of 57 Cathedral Ave., not far from Scotia Street.
The maple was written about in the newspapers of long ago, in Lillian Gibbons’ Winnipeg Tribune column Stories Houses Tell, in Heritage Trees of Manitoba and even Great Trees of Canada.
David Menary, author of the latter book, estimates that the tree is over 160 years old. He also says it “is one of the most unusual in Winnipeg, having grown sideways to avoid an old log cabin.”
The sprawling, massive tree sits in front of the historical residence at 57 Cathedral Ave., the Robert Crawford home, built by Crawford in 1904, when he worked for Canada Steamship Lines.
Some historians say that before the old Kildonan Presbyterian Church (another great historical site) was built in 1853, the Rev. John Black, the first Presbyterian minister in the West, sometimes took to preaching his sermons to early settlers under the shade of the old maple.
Gibbons told readers in her 1946 article for the Tribune that Crawford was moving on from his home and his much beloved, then century old, tree.
“This was to be the fashionable end of town,” Crawford told Gibbons of the time he bought his lot. “The boom of 1882 raised the prices of lots to the highest they’ve ever been.”
He also told Gibbons that the reason the tree grew so famously crooked “was that an old log house, belonging to one of the Mathesons… stood down there in the lower end of the lot. A maple seed blew in close to the house (and), in order to escape it, the tree had to grow sideways.”
Crawford, who had an interest in history, said that the stones of the old Matheson house were preserved and built into his home.
In a 1937 Tribune article, writer Jocelyn Baker said the Crawfords proudly referred to the tree then as the ‘John Black Tree.’
Mrs. Crawford said the reason they bought the property was because of “the old crooked tree.” There were only two houses between the Crawfords and Main Street then but, by 1937, the Matheson farm was gone and replaced by a busy neighbourhood.
A new family recently moved into the Crawford house and it has been much renovated since its early days but the tree is still standing, a proud and beautiful landmark in north Winnipeg.
Cheryl Girard is a community correspondent for West Kildonan. You can contact her at girard.cheryl@gmail.com
Cheryl Girard
West Kildonan community correspondent
Cheryl Girard was a community correspondent for West Kildonan.
Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.
Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Cheryl Girard
West Kildonan community correspondent
Cheryl Girard was a community correspondent for West Kildonan.
Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.
Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
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