Franklin School gets new tree

Franklin Elementary School got a new tree Friday.

Members of the Cape Girardeau Council of Garden Clubs joined the second-grade class of Franklin to celebrate Arbor Day with a tree-planting ceremony in the school's back yard.

On hand for the ceremony were representatives of four garden clubs -- Four Seasons, Ramblewood, Rose Hill and River Hill -- as second-grade students presented a program, highlighted by Eli Phillips' brief history of Arbor Day.

"It all started in Nebraska 130 years ago," Phillips told the group.

Julius Sterling Morton, originally from Michigan, planted some trees on his farm in April 1872 and urged his neighbors to follow suit. "More than one million trees were planted that first year, and million of trees have been planted since," Phillips said.

In Missouri, Arbor Day was established in 1919 to be the first Friday after the first Tuesday in April.

Schools are requested to observe the day by encouraging the planting of trees, shrubbery and flowers upon and around the school grounds in order that the school children have an appreciation of the gifts of nature. Many of the schools here have observed Arbor Day, with the help of garden clubs, in planting trees on the school grounds.

Second tree planted

The Council of Garden Clubs selected and purchased a maple tree for Franklin, said Nadine Davis, a spokeswoman for the council.

Frank Bertrand's horticulture class of the new Career and Technology Center planted the tree for the Council of Garden Clubs.

Also in the program Friday were poems about trees written and presented by Veronica Swingle and Susanna Hayward. Swingle, Hayward, Elizabeth Thomas, Abbey Kesterson and Alison Hardesty joined in telling a story they had written about an apple tree.

A second tree was planted Friday to celebrate Arbor Day Friday at a tree-planting ceremony at the Career and Technology Center.

"This event will help to recognize the importance of trees in our community" said Dan Muser, director of parks and recreation for the city.

Cape Girardeau is a Tree City USA, designated by the National Arbor Day Foundation. To become a Tree City USA, a community must meet four standards -- a tree board, a tree care ordinance, a comprehensive community forestry program and an Arbor Day observance.

Cape Girardeau was designated Tree City USA in 2000, a year after the city created a tree board.

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