Thomas Cree Homesite
First Tree
After serving as a teamster in the Civil War (1861-65), Thadium (Thomas) B. Cree worked for the Union Pacific Railroad. In 1888 he and his wife came to the High Plains. They acquired this land and, with no trees for lumber, they built a dugout home. Cree traveled 35 miles at his wife's request to find a sapling and planted it here. He watered it from a nearby lake that he dug from a buffalo wallow. The tree never grew but lived many years despite blizzard, heat, and drought. Gov. John Connally dedicated an historical marker in 1963 to the first tree in the Panhandle.
(Right Side Plaque):
First Tree
Texas High Plains
Set front dugout home by
Thomas Cree 1888
Good luck symbols of settlers
throughout drouth, blizzard and heat.
Cree's bois d'arc tree
died in the 1970s. County
residents planted a new
tree here in 1990 as a
memorial to the area's
early pioneers.
(Left Side Plaque):
The 33rd Anniversary National Convention, Men's Garden Clubs of America, meeting at Amarillo, June 14-17, 1965, formally recognized and paid tribute to the significance of Thomas Cree's little tree and to the memory of this heroic early gardener of these High Plains.
Recorded Texas Historic Landmark – 1967
Marker is on U.S. 60 4.9 miles west of Texas Route 207, on the left when traveling west.
Courtesy hmdb.org
