The growth rings are identified with a year and a key event that occurred during that year; a very interesting way to show the fascinating events that occurred during this tree's life.
The following information was provided via e-mail by the Ohio Historical Society Senior Curator of Natural History:
The tree in question is a honey-locust, catalog # N 26782. It has an interesting history – I am attaching the record from our on-line catalog, which contains the information you are interested in.
N 26782
Gleditsia triacanthus, Honey-locust
1947$bCollection, 1 item
Cross-Section. Roughly 5 feet in diameter.
This large cross-section was cut as the tree was cut in January of 1948. The tree had been suffering from disease. Dayton attorney Harold Singer determined to cut the tree and donate cross-sections to the public library and the historical society. At the time, it was reported to be the largest and the oldest tree in Dayton, Ohio. It was located at 527 West Second Street -- described as on the "banks of the Great Miami River" although modern maps show that address in the midst of the I-75 interstate and a little ways from the river.
On exhibit in the Nature of Ohio displays, with dates marked on a plexi-glass overlay, beginning with 1803 a little out from the center. Newspaper articles suggest tree was 175 to 200 years old (prior to drying, sanding and an accurate ring count).
Anon. 1947. Dayton's oldest, tallest tree gets the ax. Dayton Daily News, October 24, 1947
Anon. 1948. Rings in Honey Locust tree will be preserved as clues to city's history. Dayton Daily News, October 20, 1948.
Werthner, William B. 1935. Some American Trees: An Intimate Study of Native Ohio Trees. Macmillan Press, New York. 398 pp. (copies of newspaper articles in Donor file, Natural History Collections. Copy of Werthner's book that cites the tree is in the OHS Library/Archives.
Call # 582.16 W497s; OCLC # ocm01041031.
Angiospermae, Flowering Plants; Caesalpiniaceae, Caesalpinia Family
Recorded by R.C. Glotzhober, Record Updated 14 July 2008; On Exhibit (2008)
From the Ohio Historical Society's Ohio Historical Center website:
Inside this unique structure, the Ohio Historical Society offers visitors a rewarding museum experience of Ohio’s past and an Archives/Library that provides rich resources for genealogists and other researchers. The Center serves as the headquarters for the Ohio Historical Society and is the flagship museum of the Society’s network of over 50 historic sites and museums.
The Nature of Ohio
In this exhibit gallery, visitors can explore five themes of Ohio’s natural history: plants, animals, geology, geography and climate. The space opens with the giant Conway mastodon greeting guests as they begin a tour of Ohio’s unique natural history from the ice age to the present. This exhibit is highly interactive and designed for young people to touch specimens, test themselves with computer displays and play safely in the Battelle Discovery Park and Theatre. Don’t miss a display of extinct animals, including two century-old specimens of the ivory-billed woodpecker. Also, look here for “Buttons,” the last documented wild passenger pigeon anywhere in the world.