The former E.M. Ford building is on the market after the insurance company relocated downtown earlier this year. The Frederica Street property is home to the largest known sassafras tree in the world, a landmark that is not protected should new owners want to cut it down.
Owensboro Times was told by a representative of the Historic Preservation Board that it does not have jurisdiction over the tree and, according to Realtor Scott Lyons, the tree has never been issued any protections from being torn down.
Lyons is with L. Steve Castlen Realtors and has taken the reigns of selling the property at 2100 Frederica Street since E.M. Ford moved out in February. Lyons said potential buyers that have looked at the property have all said they would not remove the record-setting tree.
The E.M. Ford building was built in the late 1920s, and the independent insurance agency worked from the location for 35 years, beginning in 1983.
The history of the property — including the 350-year-old sassafras tree — is important to the Ford family.
“That tree is special to us,” E.M. Ford partner Clay Ford told Owensboro Times in February. “The tree is over 350 years old and we have been told it’s the oldest living thing in Kentucky. That’s pretty special to have in Owensboro.”
It is special, Lyons said, and the prospective buyers who’ve been shown the property feel that way too.
“I haven’t heard anybody say anything about tearing the tree down. That tree is important to the community as well,” Lyons said. “Nobody has mentioned that at all.”
Most of the interested buyers have been from the local area, he said, and many of them have sought the property out because of its century-long history.
“The history of it is important to people,” Lyons said. “People call to inquire about the house’s history, as well as the tree’s.”
According to the Kentucky Historical Marker Database, the sassafras tree was first mentioned for its grandiose size in 1883 and has been an historic landmark in Daviess County ever since. Measuring over 100 feet tall, with a circumference of 16 feet, it is registered with the American Forestry Association as the largest sassafras tree in the United States and, likely, the world.
According to the clients Lyons has met and spoken with, the idea of cutting the tree down hasn’t crossed any minds so far.
“During ROMP, I’d go over there and people from out of town would be standing there taking pictures of it and reading the plaque,” he said. “It really seems to interest a lot of people from all over.”
