CAPE GIRARDEAU MAN KEEPING ALIVE LEGACY OF OLD MAGNOLIA TREE

In 1864, Nicholas Wichterich planted a magnolia tree in his yard near the Mississippi River. By all accounts it was Cape Girardeau's first southern magnolia, a variety usually found in warmer latitudes.

The property changed hands, but the spreading tree became a landmark. James Hartzell, a Civil War veteran who operated a sawmill and managed the city's first electric light plant, bought the house at 222 Morgan Oak in 1882. The grand home remained in the Hartzell family for many years.

The Southeast Missourian often remarked upon the tree's presence as well.

June 20, 1929: "Magnolia tree at residence of Mr. and Mrs. J.N. Hartzell on Morgan Oak is adorned with scores of blooms. During its 70 years it has grown to a large size."

June 22, 1934: "The magnolia tree in the front yard of J.N. Hartzell, Morgan Oak Street, is in full bloom."

Then in June 1948, after a Hartzell descendant in Kansas City sold the property to the Rev. E.D. Winstead, the house was razed and the tree was cut down.

The Southeast Missourian ran a photograph and referred to the tree as "a thing of beauty when covered with several 100 (sic) blossoms, and was still in good condition. A landmark, the cutting of the tree was known by many. Rev. Winstead plans to build a garage on the site."

In the days before the environmental movement arrived, the loss of a landmark tree did not go unnoticed.

B.W. Harrison and his wife, Hazel, married only a year then, lived next door to the Hartzell house. They were on the West Coast on a belated honeymoon when the tree and house were torn down. "I think she'd have been out there with a shotgun," he says.

Hazel grew up next to the Hartzells and was treated like an adopted granddaughter. "Hazel was fond of the tree and the home and the family," Harrison said.

Fortunately, in the mid-1940s Hazel's family had planted a seedling from the Hartzell tree in their front yard. And through the years, Harrison has transplanted seedlings from the tree at various locations in town.

Among the other descendants of that Hartzell tree planted in 1864 are the magnolia tree at the historic Judith Crow house, 323 Themis; the magnolia tree in May Greene Garden; the magnolia tree at the historic Glenn House, 325 S. Spanish; and a magnolia tree on the grounds of Old St. Vincent's Church.

The last was planted about three years ago in memory of Hazel, a lifelong member of the old church who died in 1990. It's about 8 feet tall now, and he has seen it through assaults by a car and a weed-eater.

Magnolia trees he transplanted at another historic Cape Girardeau site, the Reynolds House, and at the Common Pleas Courthouse "fell victim to careless lawn mowing," he said, eyes twinkling.

His own tree is "a beautiful specimen," he says. "You'd be surprised how many people from out of town stop and admire it and ask, "What kind of tree is that?"

Harrison still lives in his wife's family home at the corner of South Lorimier and Morgan Oak. The land the Hartzell house and magnolia tree once stood upon is now home to the Downtown Motel.

Harrison, a retired University of Missouri extension administrator, will be 87 on May 2. He has a housekeeper but mows his own yard and still pays particular attention to the care and pruning of a certain magnolia tree.

"I've been looking after it 50 years," he said.