Davey Tree Flipbooks

14 THE DAVEY BULLETIN | September/October 2022 STEWARDSHIP BAY AREA RICH WITH DAVEY HISTORY In the 20th century, Keith Davey was a well-known public figure in the Bay Area. Karl Mittelstadt, president of Belmont Historical Society, as well as member of the Parks & Recreation Commission, and Tree Board, Belmont, met Keith Davey in the late 1970s. "Keith Davey gave the employees of the parks system a lecture on how to properly prune trees. He had a real gift for imparting information to us," Mittelstadt recalls. Keith Davey was the son of Wellington Davey, who, as one of John Davey's four sons, traveled to California to found the Davey Tree Surgery Company in 1928. According to the 1950 census, Keith and his wife, Rose, lived at 400 El Camino Real, in Belmont, California. Less than a quarter mile away, as early as the late 1950s, Keith Davey resided at 1 Davey Glen Rd. in Belmont, California, which is now an historic building. He owned 19-acres of land. The home was previously owned by George C. Ross, a local attorney. "It's a large property that goes up the hill. The neighbors have built around it," Ron Eicher, sales arborist, Menlo Park office, said. Eicher was hired as a groundperson 31 years ago by Richard Hill, who had 30 years of service with Davey, and was the district manager, San Francisco office, until he passed away in 2014. "I have been familiar with the Keith Davey property throughout my career," Eicher said. Davey's connection to the property continues today. The San Francisco office trimmed five eucalyptus trees with branches overhanging the edge of the property at 1 Davey Glen Rd. in April. Eicher worked with the current property owner to bring the trees up to city code. "The challenge for this job was that everything slopes down. It is very steep," Eicher said. Eicher said the large eucalyptus trees will require continued management. "I am glad to be part of keeping Davey's historical ties to the property alive," added Eicher. The former Keith Davey property included an acre of wooded land, which opened as Davey Glen Park a few decades after Keith passed away in 1987. The San Francisco office and Davey Resource Group (DRG) helped the city of Belmont prepare for the construction of Davey Glen Park. In 2012, Hill, district manager of the San Francisco office at that time, and his team, worked with DRG employees on a pro bono tree inventory of the park. Viewed According to Russel A. Estep, author of Carlmont History (History of Belmont), Vol. 6, 1986-1988, Keith Davey was an active member of the Chamber of Commerce for many years. Estep describes Keith as "a friendly man… (who) drove a Lincoln Continental." Estep goes on to say that Keith Davey's home was surrounded by hundreds of trees, which were already there when he purchased the property. "There was quite a tree planting spree in 1888, as announced in the Times Gazette. In their article of March 17, 1888, they tell that Mr. P. Swift, a lumber dealer in San Francisco, had completed construction of a house west of the railroad tracks and had planted 2,500 trees. This may have been the property later owned by Davey." There were 10,000 trees planted in Belmont in 1888 from a variety of contractors, business leaders, and residents, according to Estep. "What a forest it made on Belmont's formerly bare hills. With trees planted, more residents were quickly attracted to Belmont." A Legacy of Trees A small grove of redwood trees in Twin Pines Park, located a mile from Davey Glen Park, was dedicated to Keith Davey by Belmont's Chamber of Commerce in 1974. A plaque affixed to a small boulder commemorates the grove's dedication to Keith Davey. Photo credit: Karl Mittelstadt.

• Cover