Colgate’s iconic allées began as functional additions to address the needs of a blossoming campus.
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December wind is blowing through campus, swirling the first snowflakes of the impending winter. Trucks towing cherry pickers and wood chippers turn onto Oak Drive. They carry workers in coveralls, wearing gloves designed both for warmth and protection against splinters. These contractors are from the University’s arbor company, and they are here to address safety issues along the iconic entryway to campus: They will take down eight 32 Colgate Magazine Spring 2022
red oaks that have reached the end of their lifespan and are in danger of falling. Landscape Project Manager Katy Jacobs, Colgate’s on-staff tree expert, is focusing on paperwork in her warm Merrill House office. Her reasons for avoiding the outdoors have more to do with the saws than the weather. She knows that removing these trees is a last resort, after cabling of the canopy, pruning, and injections of nutrients failed. She also knows these trees will be replaced
special collections and university archives
A view of campus in 1906. In the foreground, a nascent Willow Path, which will be renovated as part of the Third-Century Plan.
