ARCHIVES
FROM
THE
A CENTRAL PARK STORY
Rain clouds cast a silver sheen over
Central Park in the heart of New York
City on an autumn day.
34
The Davey Bulletin | September/October 2017
Perhaps the world's best known
urban forest has a long history with
Davey Tree.
The trees of Central Park, walled in
by New York City's concrete jungle,
first benefitted from Davey's expert
care in the 1920s, when Martin L.
Davey, Sr., embarked on a publicity
stunt by offering to rejuvenate 100
of the park's struggling trees.
City park officials believed the trees
could not be saved and were dying
because of carbon monoxide gases
emitted by the growing number of
automobiles infiltrating the brimming
metropolis. In fact, at his own
expense, M.L. Davey ordered soil and
atmospheric tests, which revealed
the trees were actually suffering from
starvation, soil compaction, pests and
other ailments.
Martin's younger brother, James
Davey, then a vice president at Davey
Tree, was named supervising expert
and given authority to direct New York
City's parks employees in overseeing
the rehab program. Ultimately, the
tasks of pruning, feeding, treating
for pests and otherwise caring for
the 100 trees fell to M. W. "Biff"
Staples and his crews.
Staples recalled the media circus
that surrounded the project in a 1966
Davey Bulletin article.
"We had spectators at all times,
often standing three deep to watch
the 'show,'" Staples recalled. This
included daily visits from newspaper
reporters, photographers and
Movietone News videographers.
In 1927, a year after the project
started, 90 of the trees had shown
tremendous improvement in health.
