"STORIES FROM THE KANSAS STATE CAPITOL: COTTONWOOD OR COTTON YARN?"

A Moment in Time

Kansas Historical Society

April 2001, Part 9 of 10

A monthly series from the Kansas Historical Society

Is it true? Or is it an old yarn? Can a tree grow from a stake driven into the ground? That's the story surrounding a large old cottonwood tree that once grew near the south and east wings of the Capitol.

There were those who swore that one of the stakes workers had driven into the ground rooted and provided a beautiful old cottonwood tree. The stakes were used to attach guy-wires for a derrick which lifted building supplies to workmen above.

The tree served as a shady recluse for heat weary citizens and such dignitaries as presidents Harrison, McKinley and Taft and Vice President Charles Curtis who gave speeches from beneath its great limbs.

In 1983, Jack Brier, then secretary of state, made every effort to "save the cottonwood" from disease and from damage caused by high winds. Some large limbs of the 90-foot cottonwood were supported by wires attached to the 15-foot circumference of the trunk. In spite of Brier's efforts, the tree finally succumbed to more winds and had to be removed.

A part of the trunk was salvaged and chain-sawed into a chair. It was presented to Brier and the Secretary of State's office by the artisan and was stored in the basement of the Capitol for many years. In 1989 it was transferred to the Kansas Historical Society.

Fire had also taken a toll on the magnificent old tree. In 1882, a soldier's reunion was held on the statehouse grounds. One of the sheds which had been a shelter to workmen caught fire and the tree was badly scorched. These marks were evident throughout the tree's life.

A more believable account of the tree's origin is noted in a letter by T. J. Anderson to the Kansas Historical Society dated 1909. He had moved to Topeka in 1865 and had purchased a brick house on Jackson Street facing the Capitol. When ground was broken and stone moved to the area, he noticed a small, "about three feet" sapling growing between some of the large stones. He went home, secured some large stakes and drove them around the sapling to protect it. He and a professor, Henry Worrall, took an interest in preserving the tree during construction of the building.

Today, a plaque marks a young cottonwood tree (about 20 feet tall) which has been planted near the same spot the parent tree once stood. Cuttings had been taken from the original tree and nursed along by the grounds crew. While the original tree is gone, a direct descendant grows today.