Palm Walk: A tale of trees, death, rebirth and mystery
Editor's note: This story is being highlighted in ASU Now's year in review. To read more top stories from 2016, click here.
Palm Walk, that iconic image of Arizona State University, turns 100 this year.
It’s an anniversary often repeated as fact, that school President Arthur John Matthews planted the trees in 1916.
The only problem is that it can’t be confirmed.
But what can be found in the musty documents and fading photos — and the story behind it all — is far more interesting. It’s a tale of establishing an oasis in a desert, of a tiny nascent college struggling to establish itself in an infant state with a bad national image. It’s about finding balance between transformation, preservation and the inevitable.
The palms are nearing the end of their natural lifespans. They will have to be replaced.
But before we get into the specifics of the trees’ fate, let’s look at their past.
The story of Palm Walk is a tale of trees, death, rebirth, history and mystery.
https://asunow.asu.edu/20160302-sun-devil-life-palm-walk-history
Personally I think date palms are a bad idea, even if they harvest the dates they will still be really messy.
