Article: A `tree of God' rescued in Elgin

A tree lives in Elgin.

It's a beautiful, 60-foot, 100-year-old Catalpa, with thousands of heart-shaped leaves and clusters of trumpet-shaped flowers. This majestic example of nature's handiwork sits in front of Phyllis Krueger's home, and it's her pride and joy.

Hard to believe it was almost cut down last month.

Krueger, 62, said it took nothing short of a "miracle" to save her beloved Catalpa from death by buzz saw.

On a Thursday in early August, she came home at 432 Summit and found to her horror that a crew was about to cut down the tree. She had received assurances from the Illinois Transportation Department that the widening of Illinois 58 would not affect her tree.

"They ...

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