Fallen Old Fremont School tree holds many memories
Progress is important and good and necessary, but sometimes it
tugs at your heart a little bit.
The old Fremont School at Fourth and West streets is no more as
crews contracted by the city demolished the site recently, leaving
a void at the southern base of Park Hill.
Fallen Old Fremont School tree holds many memories
Progress is important and good and necessary, but sometimes it tugs at your heart a little bit.
The old Fremont School at Fourth and West streets is no more as crews contracted by the city demolished the site recently, leaving a void at the southern base of Park Hill.
A new county courthouse is planned for the site, which is a good re-use of the land that has sat vacant since the school was taken out of commission years ago.
Any time something that has been a fixture for so long in our community is razed and replaced by something else, it prompts reflection. More specifically, the gnarled Catalpa tree that sat in the middle of the school’s grassy area was unexpectedly (at least to me) felled as part of the demolition.
Much like when an orchard is knocked down in San Benito County, it’s a little disappointing to see a tree fall – particularly a stately one like the one at the former Fremont. It’s not that I’m worried about the tree’s feelings; it’s just that it was a piece of old Hollister under which generations of young people played or sat.
“That tree was kind of like home base for a lot of different things,” said my wife, Mary, a Fremont School alumna. “We’d sit under it at recess or use it as home base when we’d play tag. When the boys would chase the girls, the tree would be home, where we’d be safe.”
During games of kickball, the tree served as second base.
“It was also a place for third-graders to hang out and talk about whatever third-graders talk about,” my wife said. “We never climbed it because we’d get in trouble if we did.”
My memories of the tree include it serving as shady spot when I worked as a summer camp assistant for the Hollister Recreation Department when I was 15. We would set up arts and crafts tables under it so the kids could get out of the hot sun.
My youngest son’s farm level Little League team would practice on the Fremont School lawn, with the tree deep in what would be center field – though the kids at that level hardly hit the ball out of the infield.
I’m guessing some people had hoped the Fremont School tree would be built around, though apparently nobody raised concerns about the tree during the public meetings at which the environmental impact report on the courthouse project was discussed.
So, while it would have made a good story and pictures for the paper, there were no tree-sitters who took up residence in the old Catalpa in an effort to spare it from the demolition crews.
As demolition of the Fremont School site continues, the tree is now just a memory as construction of the new courthouse is expected to begin in late 2010 or early 2011. But there is some positive news on the environmental front, as the county is considering whether the budget for the courthouse construction project will allow it to be built to be LEED-certified, essentially meaning that it would be environmentally friendly.
The certification is based on factors such as energy efficiency, sustainability, material selection and indoor environmental quality.
A tree with roots deep in many former Fremont School students’ memories may be gone, but it served its purpose for many years; providing shelter from the sun, safety from icky boys who chased girls, and the perfect home base for a game of tag.
