The City of St. Joseph’s Liberty Tree has fallen.

Julie Noel, St. Joseph Special Events & Communications Coordinator said the city was notified Saturday that the historical tree near the entrance of Hyde Park had come down.

“It’s a symbol,” Noel said. “Back in the revolutionary days a bunch of people congregated underneath a liberty tree after the Boston Tea Party and the British decided to cut that tree down to thwart that movement but really it just rallied it.”

She said every city can only have one Liberty Tree which has to be at least 200-years-old or more.

“It has a lot of significance for the city because it was designated as the Liberty Tree for the bicentennial celebration in 1976,” Noel said.

The Parks Department is working to remove the Burr Oak from the Hyde Park Entrance

“At the time it was designated as the Liberty Tree it was the largest tree of its kind in the United States,” Noel said.

She said she is not sure what caused the tree to fall but that is could have been from old age.