What's up with those new trees planted at Reservoir Park off Country Club Road?
Gordon Freireich  The York Water Company has completed planting 600 trees at Reservoir Park. The nearly 60-acre park  along Country Club Road across from York College  was purchased by York Water in 1896. Over the years, a number of trees died or were destroyed in storms. The reason for the addition of new trees is symbolic, as well as historic. J. T. Hand, president and CEO of the York Water Company, explains the new trees are called the Dividend Grove. Thats because the number of trees celebrate the 600th consecutive dividend of the companys stock. Founded in 1816, the water company stock was, at one time, difficult to obtain for individual investors. Today it is traded on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange. Hand notes it is the oldest publicly traded stock in the country. The new trees are planted at a number of locations in the park, which is open to the public with parking off of Grantley Road. There are 12 species of new trees, according to Jeff Green, assistant superintendent of maintenance and grounds for the company. TYPES OF TREES -- The deciduous and conifer trees were purchased from and planted by Strathmeyer Landscape beginning last October at a total project cost of approximately $100,000. Jeff Green listed the new plantings as:  Red Maple, White Oak, Red Oak, Willow Oak, American Beech, London Planetree (Sycamore), White Pine, Norway Spruce, White Spruce, Concolor Fir, European Larch, and Red Cedar. More:His son faces death penalty in Regal theater murder. Why this York father blames himself  More:'A terrible life' that began with the French Foreign Legion and ended under a York bridge  Standing at the top of Reservoir Hill, Hand points to an oak tree that is believed to be more than 300 years old. It is the same tree visible in an 1898 photograph taken from the same location. We hope some of the new trees will be here in 300 years, Hand says. SNOW SLEDDING  Planting of the new trees will not interfere with the popular snow sledding section of Reservoir Hill. The unencumbered slope from the crest of the hill down to close to Country Club Road remains open space. Hand states it will remain one of the best sledding hills in York County.  THE GAZEBO  Some of the new trees have been planted in the area of the historic gazebo at the top of the hill. Exhibited at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition  officially the Centennial International Exhibition of 1876, the first World's Fair to be held in the United States -- the gazebo was purchased and moved to the garden of a home in the second block of East Market Street. When the York Water Company bought the property for its new headquarters in the 1930s, the gazebo was moved to Reservoir Park where it sits on the site of a former large water fountain. THE BIG AMERICAN FLAG  New trees have also been planted in the vicinity of the flagpole atop Reservoir Hill and visible from numerous locations in York City. The large United States Flag -- which flies 24 hours a day thanks to nighttime lighting  is replaced three times a year, Hand said. A CROSS-COUNTRY COURSE  Reservoir Park is challenging cross-country terrain, which West York School District uses as its home course. Hand hopes -- with York Colleges move to a new sports conference  the location will become the course for the conferences cross-country invitational.  Towards that goal, a double line of Red Maple trees has been planted that will eventually create a canopy along a section of the course. Looking across the area, Hand says: We want to retain the park-like grounds. Thats good news for York County and its residents looking for a place to stroll or take in the sweeping view of York City. Gordon Freireich is a former editor of the York Sunday News. Email: gordonaf2805@gmail.com.