My favorite tree

Today I saw a very historic tree in the downtown area of the northwestern Illinois farm town I recently moved to. It was planted in 1840. There are no leaves on it right now because it's winter but it's obviously very healthy and very old. In 1840 this tree was on a farm. It's still in the same place but on a downtown street with lots of car traffic.

I couldn't find a photo of the way it looks now but I found a tree that looks like it which you can see here. The tree that I saw looked older. The 1840 tree is between a public sidewalk and the street. The sidewalk is being destroyed by this beautiful tree. The tree is leaning towards the road. To prevent it from falling into the street some limbs were cut off.

The 1840 tree is an Osage Orange Hedge Tree. It's now 179 years old. We human apes will never live that long. My goal is 110 years old.