The large Catalpa trees growing in Westford with their showy white blossoms.
By Marilyn Day, Board Member, Westford Historical Society
Have you noticed the large Catalpa trees growing in Westford with their showy white blossoms in late spring and long brown pods in the fall? In fact, how could you miss them? You see them on Boston Road, on Graniteville and Cold Spring Roads, at 10 Chamberlain Road, several near the Abbot Mill in Forge Village including a spectacular one on Bradford Street, in the area of 118 Concord Road, near the Parkerville Schoolhouse, near 10-12 Lowell Road, on Maple at the corner of River Street, and North Main. When Gordon Seavey wrote an article in 1983 about Catalpa trees in Westford, he mentioned the one near 32 Boston Road.
The trees were actually introduced to town in 1911 by the department store Gilchrist & Co. of Boston. An article from the Lowell Sun of 27 April 1911 wrote in speaking about Gilchrist & Co., “The company has 100,000 catalpa trees it is anxious to distribute to the schools throughout the eastern part of the state.” The 1912 Westford town report on page 12 in the school report section states, “ In the spring, by courtesy of Gilchrist & Co. of Boston, several hundred catalpa trees were furnished to the pupils of Westford for free. Your Superintendent [Frank H. Hill] distributed these trees in season for planting Arbor Day.…”
Arbor Day was celebrated on Friday, April 26, in 1911. It is still celebrated in Massachusetts on the last Friday of April.
Gilchrist’s Department Store was located in Downtown Crossing in Boston across the street from Filene’s and Jordan Marsh. Founded in 1842, Gilchrist closed its doors in 1977. While the department store may be gone, the trees the store gave out over 100 years ago continue to thrive in Westford. Now this begs the question, who were the school children from those many neighborhoods who brought home Catalpa seedlings and planted them?
