MARLBOROUGH – Many older Marlborough residents will remember some of the city’s treelined streets. So many of these trees have been taken down to widen the roads. This is the story of the buttonwood tree that stood in the middle of Colleary Square.
Colleary Square is located at the junction of Main Street and East Main Street, what was once Fairbanks Corner. The square was named after Sgt. John P. Colleary, a laborer, motorman, and policeman who served in the Spanish American War and World War I.
In 1934, the large buttonwood (or ironwood) tree was well over 100 years old. It stood as a reminder of Marlborough’s historic past…