American elm (Felled)
This American elm once towered over Pearl Street. [2018, Dunlap]
Pending permission.
[2016, Dunlap]
A T-shirt by Liz Claricoates depicted the elm. [Courtesy of Steve Desroches]
The extent of damage to the tree is evident at right. [2009 and 2014, Dunlap]
The elm was cut down in 2023. [Courtesy of Steve Desroches]
Updated on 7 November 2026 | “To me it was one of the most iconic trees in town,” Steve Desroches said of the elm tree that once stood outside 5 Pearl Street. “Not sure if it’s true, but I was told it grew from a sapling purchased from a traveling salesman after the Hurricane of 1938.” Desroches was not its only admirer. In the early 2000s, Liz Claricoates, proprietor of City Video at 192-194 Commercial Street immortalized the tree — most likely an American (rather than Siberian) elm — on a T-shirt she created for sale at the store.
Tropical Storm Irene on 28 August 2011 caused extensive damage to the tree. Desroches recalled an expensive car parked nearby being crushed by falling branches. “We all went down to take a look once the storm passed and thought that was it for the gorgeous tree,” he said in an email. “But it lived another 12 years!”
The trunk of the tree showed its great age when it was cut down in 2023. It might easily have been 85 years old.