As Milan High School seniors prepared for their final days of class, Keegan Bates was finishing something that will stay behind.
Bates recently completed a large mural inside the high school, using Milan’s red, black and white colors to bring together familiar symbols: the Crooked Tree, a Big Reds bird and downtown buildings.
The tree carries a deeper local history. According to the Milan Area Historical Society, Milan’s Crooked Tree was a sugar maple that stood at the northwest corner of Dexter and County streets. The tree died and was cut down in 1960, but its image remains part of Milan’s story…