History: Louisiana Live Oak Society Now Includes Greneaux Tree, Natchitoches Parish Louisiana Source: The Natchitoches Times Sunday, January 7, 1990 (Lifestyle section pg. 12A) Submitted by: Frank Monteleone flmont@argohouston.com ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** The Natchitoches Times Sunday, January 7, 1990 (Lifestyle section pg. 12A) Titled: Louisiana Live Oak Society Now Includes Greneaux Tree (Picture) Caption: Greneaux Tree: Residents and visitors have long-admired the large live oak tree at the northwest corner of St. Denis and Second Streets in the downtown Historic District. They can be doubly proud of the tree now that it has been named the Greneaux Tree and has met the qualifications for membership in the Louisiana Live Oak Sociey. It is over 100 years and its spreading branches span over 75 feet. Article: A "Tree Grows in Brooklyn" is the title of a book that got national attention following its publication. The Greneaux Tree, one of the landmarks of downtown Natchitoches, is also getting the attention of people throughout Louisiana. It's been accepted into the Live Oak Society! A certificate of membership in the LOS has been issued to Mrs. Shirley Greneaux Pullen, owner of the property on which the tree grows. The tree stands at the northwest corner of the intersection of Second and St. Denis Streets and is more than 100 years old. Mrs. Pullen, who is 92, remembers that this tree was full grown when she was a young girl. Although the trunk of the tree has not grown much larger in the past few decades, the branches have continued to spread. Due to its location at a busy corner in the business section of the Hisoric District, lower limbs have had to be pruned away, leaving large scars as evidence of this cutting. Charles Matherne, district forester of the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry, measured the tree which has a girth (or circumference) of 18.13 feet. The limbs spread 76.75 feet. Mrs. Pullen named the tree for her parents as the Greneaux family operated a business on "live oak corner" for many years. She owns the property but signed a 99-year lease for its use with Progressive Federal Savings Bank. In recent years, the bank constructed a large brick structure at the site featuring the tree in its landscaping plan. Born April 1, 1897, Mrs. Pullen is the daughter of William S. Greneaux and Hannah Aaron Greneaux. She is the widow of John Fletcher Pullen and has a son, John (Jack) Pullen Jr. of Swartz. On the paternal side, she is a descendent of Alex and Lamalia Lemee, early settlers of Natchitoches, who owned property including the Lemee House. The Lemees' children included a daughter, Amelia, who married Ambrose Greneaux and is the mother of William S. Greneaux, Mrs. Pullen's father. Mrs. Pullen's maternal line includes Samuel Aaron and Emily May Aaron, who moved to Natchitoches from Milam, Tex., before the Civil War. The Live Oak Society is solely sponsored by the Louisiana Garden Club Federation Inc. Its purpose is the promotion of the culture, distribution, and appreciation of the live oak tree. Membership consists of designated individual trees known or suspected to be more than 100 years old. Trees less than 100 years old, possessing the proper qualifications, will be eligible to be enlisted in the Junior Live Oak League. Dr. Edwin Lewis Stephens, first president of the University of Southwestern Louisiana (then Southwestern Louisiana Institute), suggested organization of this unique society, which was established in 1934. Stephens and his wife had observed, measured, and collected data on the large live oaks they saw along the Old Spanish Trail and its intersecting highways and rural roads, and he had personal acquaintance of 43 such live oaks in Louisiana eligible for charter membership. In 1935 there were 57 oaks in the society, and in 1945 membership stood at 119. The LGCF assumed responsibility for maintaining records and registering new applicants in 1957, and in 1963 named Mrs. Harry W. Brown as chairman. First president of the Live Oak Society was the Locke Breaux Oak near Hahnville, the largest tree. It died in 1966 after serving as the champion oak of Louisiana for 30 years, and was succeeded by the Seven Sisters Oak in Lewisburg after the Louisiana Forestry Association determined it was the champion in size. Live oaks are registered in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, North Carolina, and South Carolina. By the late 1980s, there were over 850 trees registered. Among them are two trees at the LGCF headquarters in Lecompte dedicated to Dr. Stephens and Mrs. Brown. Mrs. Louis Pfister of Metairie is the current LOS chairman. (Editor's Note: The interest Mrs. Morris (Rosalie) Aaron has in historic Natchitoches promoted the registering of the Greneaux tree into the Louisiana Live Oak Society).