The Lansburgh Park Elm

The arborist's verdict on this elm, written straight into Washington's tree inventory, fits on one line, "Awesome tree; Leaning over dog park." Both halves hold up. In Lansburgh Park in Southwest, the American elm leans out over the park's dog park, and its trunk measures about 130 centimetres across at chest height, roughly 4.1 metres round. It has taken some punishment. In the wind storm of 30 April 2021 it lost a limb about 20 centimetres thick, and laser survey fields in the record give it a crown only about 12 metres high, modest for a trunk this wide. Even so, at its last inspection, in May 2026, the city rated it Good. It has the park to itself. The only other tree within twenty metres, according to the inventory, is a pawpaw a few centimetres thick, so there is no mistaking which trunk the note is about. Waterfront Metro is about 500 metres away, roughly a seven-minute walk, and the Caucasian elm at the Botanic Garden is about 1.2 kilometres north, so the tree can end a walk south from the Mall. The city's inventory is the only source, and it does not say when the elm was planted. Nobody has dated it. If you know, tell us.