This massive tree has stood in KC for 250 years. Soon, it has to be removed

Kansas Citians gathered in the Historic Northeast Saturday to toast a tall tree that’s stood over the area for centuries before it has to be chopped down next year.

“Frank,” an oak tree that shares a name with a former owner, is believed to be about 250 years old — meaning it grew before the Civil War, before Monroe Avenue existed, before Kansas City was a city and before Missouri was a state.

Frank was recognized as an official “Liberty Tree” by the Missouri Department of Conservation around the occasion of the nation’s bicentennial, or 200th anniversary, in 1976.

Next year marks 250 since the Founding Fathers signed the Declaration of Independence. That’s also the year that Frank, which stands dozens of feet tall, must come down.

The tree has fungal root disease and must be removed for safety reasons as the roots have deteriorated. But Crystal Beasley, a recent transplant who was attracted to her apartment by the tree in the backyard, staged a champagne toast gathering to memorialize the tree and decades of memories, bidding it farewell before it needs to go.

The current owners of the property learned that Frank would need to be removed shortly after they bought the property over the summer.

“I didn’t want to just have this moment go and they just get rid of this tree that everyone in the neighborhood talks about,” Beasley said.

So on Saturday, neighbors gathered to raise their bubbly as Beasley led a toast to 250 years of shade, protection and legacy.

Ron Gamm, co-owner of Alpha and Omega Tree Services, which will be taking down the tree, said they will wait until after the new year starts to begin work in honor of Frank standing so long.

“This tree has been standing here longer than this great country has been a nation,” he said at the memorial.

Removing a tree so large means starting from the top and moving down, Gamm said. Work will include making sure power lines are clear, bringing in a crane or a grapple truck and having a worker with ropes and rigs to direct bringing the tree down.

There are plans to donate as much of the tree’s remnants as possible alongside planting something new in the yard.

“I look forward to what we can grow next,” said Crispin Rea, City Council member for the Fourth District At-Large.

Beasley has started a GoFundMe to help cover the costs of the removal.

Flatland KC reported in 2019 that Frank’s Liberty Tree designation came under a program led by the American Revolution Bicentennial Administration, a government agency that worked to identify significant landmarks that were about 200 years old as the country celebrated the bicentennial in 1976.