April 18, 2013
40 of 65

I Think That I Shall Never See a Street as Lovely as a Tree

The huge blue spruce in front of our home in Wheat Ridge had been there longer than anyone could remember. The brick house had been built in the 1920s and was the home of Catherine Coulehan and her family. In the 1950s it was sold to Hubert and Margaret Cosby, a bus driver and his wife, who lived there and raised a family until Cathy and I bought it in 1980. The Cosbys wanted a smaller place with a smaller yard, something easier to care for as they aged. I guess Mr. Cosby was having health problems. He died just a year later.

The tree was at least 30 feet tall, so it must have been planted at about the time the Cosbys moved in, or maybe a little earlier.

All the land around ours had once been owned by the Coulehan family and was originally subdivided in 1901. Over the years, most parts were re-subdivided and most of the neighboring homes had been built in the 1950s and 1960s. The description of our land was still based on the 1901 plat.

One day a City of Wheat Ridge truck parked across the street. Two workers got out and craned their necks to see the top of the tree. They were making notes on a legal pad when I came out and asked what they were doing. “You have a beautiful tree here,” said one. “It’s too bad it has to come down.” Continue reading →