Old Treaty Elm - Chicago, IL
Posted by: 
adgorn
N 41° 59.124 W 087° 44.448
16T E 438634 N 4648420
Bronze plaque on a stone in a Chicago neighborhood commemorating the story of the Treaty Elm, a tree that saw Chicago history made.
Waymark Code: WMBY60
Location: Illinois, United States
Date Posted: 07/03/2011
Views: 4
The marker reads:
“Old Treaty Elm. The tree which stood here until 1933, marked the Northern Boundary of the Fort Dearborn Reservation, the trail to Lake Geneva, the center of Billy Caldwell’s (Chief Sauganash) Reservation, and the site of the Indian Treaty of 1835. Erected by Chicago’s Charter Jubilee. Authenticated by Chicago Historic Society, 1937.”
According to the story, under the elm's branches, the Indian Treaty of 1835 was signed (in 1833) by Chief Sauganash, also known as "Billy Caldwell". The tree was located in the Sauganash neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois, and stood until 1933. The marker is placed several feet west of the actual location of the trunk of the tree, which stood approximately in the middle of what is now Kilbourn Avenue, just west of Rogers Avenue, which is the Old Indian Boundary Line.
The treaty, negotiated and signed in 1833 and enacted in 1835, ceded Indian land on the western shore of Lake Michigan to the US Government in return for land west of the Mississippi River, in what was to become Missouri. (from wikipedia)
You can see a photo of the old tree here:
There is also another historical photo preserved here:
http://content.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/kt3j49p73z/
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