By:   Betty Cobb

A recent inquiry about the history of the lovely Liberty Tree Park on Northwest Fifth Street led to some research.

Most of us know that it was dedicated for the bicentennial and the name reflected the famous "Liberty Tree" of revolutionary days.

In early 1975, Dottie O’Hare, a member of the city’s Bicentennial Committee, was speaking to the Plantation Elks and Elkettes about the original trees history.

Planted in Bay Colony, Massachusetts in 1646, the tree was used as a signaling and rallying symbol for the patriots. When the British realized what the tree symbolized, they cut it down in 1775. The city of Boston planted a "new liberty tree" in 1974 on almost the same spot where the original one had grown.

All across the USA, bicentennial groups were planting "liberty trees" in preparation of the nation’s 200^th birthday.

The Plantation Elk Lodge pledged to purchase a fully-grown tree to be planted prior to the Fourth of July festivities. Later, Griffin Brothers Nursery of Davie agreed to provided the tree without cost.

At a Tuesday night Plantation City Council meeting, Broward County Sheriff Ed Stack presented the city its official Florida bicentennial flag (Council meetings were later changed to Wednesday nights to accommodate Councilman Don King due to occupational changes).

A 45-foot oak was planted in April 1976 in the new park on Fifth Street. Griffin Brothers decided to donate the tree, so the Elks contributed to the Plantation Junior Woman’s Club drive to fund the park. Junior Woman’s Club member Rae Carole Armstrong chaired the committee.

The Plantation  Woman's Club gave $1,700 for the trees, but I don’t have the figures on other groups or individuals that donated.   In total, the Junior's raised about $30,000 for the development. Developers donated a number of plants and much of the labor.

A new special strain of St. Augustine grass, floritam, was planted by the city. It was reported to the resistant to chinch bugs, worms, etc. I wonder if it really was. More than $6,000 of wooden playground equipment included swings, jungle gyms, parallel bars, a seesaw and trapeze bars.

Paved walkways meandered about the 4.3-acre site. Done piecemeal over a year, the park was completed in time for the dedication. The park was landscaped with small rolling hills and about 100 oak trees and crowned with a "liberty tree" the choice for the parks name was unanimous.

The flagpole in the center of the park plaque credits the Plantation Junior Woman’s Club and other organizations. If your club made a donation, we’d love to hear from you as we are often called upon for club information.

Since the park’s dedication, there has been an addition of a gazebo by the Junior's. Last year, the brick walkways were installed to allow room for baby strollers and wheelchairs. The Junior's are selling bricks to help pay for the new walkways.

For only $50 you can have three lines on a brick, and an extra $10 gives you your choice of symbols, including the American Flag. It’s a nice remembrance gift for a birth, graduation, anniversary or birthday.

Think of it as your gift to posterity. If every club, school and church had a brick (with the date of founding in Plantation), it would be a wonderful path of Plantation history.

For more information, call Debbie Bond at (954) 583-8676) or click on the email link which follows mailto:BrickInfo@plantationjuniorwomansclub.org