Mrs. W. C. Graham read a brief but remarkable paper to the Woman’s Club of Wilkinsburg in 1939. The concluding paragraph is:
A German linden tree on the lot of Guy Linn 1427 Elm st. is the only remaining tree of the original double row lining the driveway from the Singer Mansion to Center street. These trees were imported from Germany by Mr. Singer.
Wikipedia gives context to this:
The linden was also a highly symbolic and hallowed tree to the Germanic peoples in their native pre-Christian Germanic mythology.
Originally, local communities assembled not only to celebrate and dance under a linden tree, but to hold their judicial thing meetings there in order to restore justice and peace. It was believed that the tree would help unearth the truth. Thus the tree became associated with jurisprudence even after Christianization, such as in the case of the Gerichtslinde, and verdicts in rural Germany were frequently returned sub tilia (Unter der linden) until the Age of Enlightenment.
. . . .
The most notable street in Berlin, Germany, is called Unter den Linden, named after the trees lining the avenue. It leads from the center of Berlin to Potsdam, the country residence of the Prussian kings.
In German folklore, the linden tree is the “tree of lovers.” The well-known Middle High German poem Under der linden by Walter von der Vogelweide (c. 1200) describes a tryst between a maid and a knight under a linden tree.
The Singer House has a figure of a knight next to the stairway near the east-facing entrance.
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“Lime tree in culture,” Wikipedia.
Wilkinsburg Public Library Digital Archives:
Mrs. W. C. Graham, “A Paper on Ancient Oak Tree,” Paper read to the Woman’s Club of Wilkinsburg in April 1938.