The treated oak is a southern live oak (quercus virginiana) located in Treaty Oak Park on Baylor St. between 5th and 6th in downtown. This historic tree is said to be over 500 years old. In 1927, our green piece of history was inducted into the American Forestry Hall of Fame. They said it was the “most perfect specimen” of a tree in North America. The treaty oak is the last standing tree of a group of trees known as the council oaks. The grove had 14 strong trees at one time.
There is no written documentation, but old stories say that Stephen F Austin negotiated a boundary treaty with the Native Americans in the 1830s. Council Oaks was a known gathering place for the Comanche and Tonkawa tribes.
Most of the Council Oaks grove was removed in 1927 for development. The remaining two lots (where Treaty Oak resided) owned by the widow of Walter H Caldwell were for sale priced at $7,000 at the time, but were never purchased. In 1937, the City of Austin raised $1,000 to purchase the land and, more importantly, the tree.
Mr. Caldwell purchased the parcel of land containing Treaty Oak from 1882. The land was owned by James Raymond during the republic and early days of statehood before being sold to John Ireland, who ruled Texas from 1882 to 1886. Based on the timing of the transactions, the funds John Ireland received from Caldwell may have supported John’s gubernatorial campaign. Walter H Caldwell was a Texas Ranger born in 1840. He was shot in the leg in Florence AL in 1864 during the Civil War. He was last known to be alive while attending a meeting of the Texas Rangers in 1898. The exact year of Caldwell’s death is unknown.
In 1989 Treaty Oak was poisoned with Valpar by Paul Cullen who ended up serving 9 years in prison. Paul believed that killing the tree would kill the unrequited love his spouse had for another man. Paul Cullen probably derived this theory based on the ancient Indian ceremony performed by Native American women. She made herself a tea from the acorns of the treaty oak and it was believed that drinking it helped bring their warrior husbands back from the battlefield. Ross Perot issued a blank check for the attempted recovery of our historic oak tree. The soil of the poisoning site was dug up and removed, however, even so, half of the crown was lost.
The treated oak produced its first crop of acorns since the poisoning in 1997. And, in February 2003, 1,000 trees were offered to the community to plant in a joint effort led by the city of Austin and the Texas Forest Service. You can purchase a treated oak scion today at historictrees.org.
During my research I came across an interview with a crazy guy giving his version of why the treated oak tree survived the poisoning. It was too much fun to leave out.
“I used my medicine pipe to bring the tree back to balance after it had been attacked. In simple terms, what I did, my part, was similar to a doctor coming in and giving a sick patient an injection to help his system. immune system to come back to a place of equilibrium so they can heal themselves,” Stronghorse said. Now, 15 years later, Treaty Oak still stands, but Stronghorse refuses to take credit for saving it.
“The truth is that I did not heal this tree. The truth that healed this tree are the prayers of children. The children came here and put up an altar in front and had their candles and left their messages. saved the tree,” Stronghorse said.
