Thunder Bay has many notable buildings and monuments. The Prince Arthur Hotel, the Wayland Building, the Tourist Pagoda...but there are other amazing marvels that often go unnoticed, like Gus, a large tree that has been a prominent fixture on Court Street since the early 1800s, when the land that would eventually become Thunder Bay was mainly wild growth.
In the mid 1820s, Gus was a young, greenish brown sapling. As Gus grew, so did the city we now call Thunder Bay. He stood tall as the first grain ships sailed into port in 1883, lived through the silver mining boom that peaked in 1890, and witnessed the 1892 launch of the Port Arthur Electric Street Railway, one of the first municipally owned railways on the continent. These are just the happenings of the 1800s that this tree has seen. Gus has turned grey over the years with bark that is thick and deeply ridged, but he isn’t stuck in the past. While we are impressed by the majestic frame of such an old soul, we also enjoy seeing Gus decorated with a bright new message announcing the changing of the seasons.
I first saw Gus as I was driving along Court Street. What caught my eye was the “Welcome Spring” bunting sign hugging his beautiful base. I’ve always loved bunting, so this colourful greeting to spring made me smile. Someone had clearly put some thought into decorating this monster-sized tree. “I bet they won’t keep it up for more seasons,” I thought to myself. I was not disappointed to find out I was wrong; the spring message changed to a St. Patrick’s Day greeting, then a summer greeting, a fall greeting, and eventually a Christmas greeting.
I knew I wanted to talk to whoever was responsible for this wonderful “Living Calendar”.
It was quite a while before I saw a woman, who I soon learned was named Jeannie, with her dog, Muggle, sitting on the stone steps that lead up to one of the beautiful old homes along Court Street. I turned around, pulled up, and asked if she was the one decorating the tree. “I am!” she replied. She went on to explain that it was a family activity they enjoyed.
Jeannie told me it was her two little girls, Elyse, 11, and Maggie, 5, who were the primary decorators. “They have always had an affection for Gus, and for them, it’s like having a Christmas tree they can decorate all year round!”
She said the girls lovingly named him “Gus” and have always been protective of him. “They have a fondness for hugging him and saying kind things to him as he’s the official anchor for their home, which they call ‘Chateau Arbois’.”
“Gus is such a big boy it’s a group effort to get the bunting around him, but it’s really joyful for us all to get excited about the next holiday we’re decorating Gus for,” Jeannie shared. “We’ve even done some art projects together to put up on him as well, which is so much fun, such as when the Jays were in the World Series last fall and we hand painted a big banner to put around him.”
Gus has also garnered attention from Lakehead University. “One day we saw a young man in the front yard, so Muggle and I went out to see what he was up to. It turns out he was a forestry student from LU and had actually been assigned Gus as a project! From his research, he thought Gus was the oldest tree in the city.”
You can actually find Gus on the city’s “Most Notable Trees” map. As Gus has grown over the years, he’s expanded to create plenty of space to house many animals, providing homes for some of the city’s smallest inhabitants. Jeannie says, “Even though he’s an old guy, he still has a nice head of foliage and is home to a myriad of ‘friends’ (as my girls call them), with everything from raccoons, squirrels, and chipmunks racing up and down him. He also hosts a veritable flock of birds, from ravens and chickadees to woodpeckers and merlins. We once even had a bald eagle roosting on his topmost branch!"
The community response has been amazing. Jeannie says friends comment that they drive by just to see Gus because it makes them happy, while strangers will honk or wave as they drive or walk by smiling. What started as a little family project brings a little bit of joy to so many more people than just the family. It’s been a wonderful life lesson for us all.” We don’t know how long we have with Gus as an unofficial city attraction, but for now, he stands as a grand reminder of strength, growth and room for family.
