An emotional day in Plano where a beloved tree believed to be the oldest living tree, not only in Plano but in all of North Texas, came down after more than 400 years.
City of Plano Parks Department workers and onlookers visited the area where the massive bur oak tree now sits on its side at Bob Woodruff Park.
The quadri-centennial bur oak toppled sometime during this week's storms, according to the city.
It stood 90 feet tall with a circumference of over 15 feet.
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After a storm in 2006 knocked down one of its large branches, arborists estimated the limb alone was 226 years old.
The Texas Historic Tree Coalition says it could even be over 500 years old.
It's an emotional sight for the arborist who has cared for the tree for the past 25 years installing lightning protection and rods with nuts and bolts to fix splits in the base.
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"I've spent a lot of time in this tree so when you're up in a tree you start to get a sense of its personality and for me up in this tree especially on a windy day I'm out on the ends of the limbs and you close your eyes and it feels like this old woman just rocking you back and forth," arborist Steve Houser said.
The city is consulting with Houser about their next steps for the tree, including whether to leave part of the base so the public can take in its breathtaking size.
