Beryl takes down one of Houston’s historic ‘Three Sisters of Montrose’ trees
The 160-year-old trees lining Montrose Boulevard at the entrance of the historic Magnolia Cemetery sparked controversy when the boulevard redo project proposed their removal.
By Janet Miranda, Trending News Reporter
July 10, 2024
Houston’s Montrose neighborhood lost one of its three iconic post oaks to Hurricane Beryl. The trees, which had a historic designation by the Texas Historic Tree Coalition, were estimated to be 160 years old. Known as the “Three Sisters of Montrose” the trees were the center of efforts to halt the Montrose Boulevard project, which planned to cut down the trees for a wider sidewalk.
The “Three Sisters” lined the entrance to Magnolia Cemetery; the southernmost tree came down following the Category 1 storm that battered the city on Monday. Another lost a major branch, and one suffering from a tree disease is still upright, confirmed Joe Webb, former chair of the Montrose Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone.
“We have been telling people those trees are an issue Mother Nature just proved us right,” Webb told Chron. “We hated to lose those trees, and now we can see maybe more than one was diseased.”
The trees were the center of a resident-led fight to save Montrose’s oak trees after a now-paused redesign plan was supposed to knock down an estimated 57 trees. Fourteen mature trees were slated to be protected. The $14 million project was an infrastructure and drainage project that aimed to give new sidewalks to residents, and more pedestrian and bicyclist protections.
The “Three Sisters” were going to be cut down in a version of the plan to fit in an ADA-compliant 6-foot sidewalk. Webb says that the city’s planning committee told them before Mayor John Whitmire arrived on the scene that the trees had to go because they were too diseased and in a spot where they wouldn’t thrive.
“Here we have living proof that they’re not O.K. because they fell in the wind,” Webb said, adding that it’s lucky that no one was injured. He stressed that it was the planning committee that required them to add a sidewalk where the Three Sisters once all stood together.
Sue Lovell, longtime Montrose resident involved with Save Montrose Live Oaks and former At-Large city council member, told Chron that while the Montrose TIRZ had asked for a variance to keep the trees and was denied under the former Mayor Sylvester Turner administration, it would have been given a variance under the new administration.
Lovell said that she noticed the felled tree developed a tilt after May 16’s freak derecho storm that downed thousands of trees around the city.
“She gave it a good run that’s for sure,” Lovell said of the felled tree. “At least we saved her from the chainsaws, she died a natural death.”
As published on CHRON. July 10,, 2024, by Janet Miranda, Trending News Reporter at: https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/hurricane-beryl-three-sisters-19563601.php