Illinois was the first state to adopt an official oak. Like neighboring Iowa, it first adopted all oaks.
Illinois school children voted for a state tree on November 1907. The elm received 5,182 votes, the maple 16,517, and the oak 21,897. The “native oak” was adopted as the state tree the next year. Thus, Illinois had about twenty-eight state trees—the approximate number of oak species native to the state!
In 1973, a special poll was taken among 900,000 school children. They decided to change the state tree to the white oak (Quercus alba). It is a common tree in each of Illinois’ 102 counties.
Illinois settlers found oaks growing along rivers and on the prairies. Acorns could be fed to pigs. Of course, many wildlife species also eat acorns. It’s no wonder so many settlements in Illinois and other states were named for oaks.
The Mighty Oak
Though Illinois was the first state to adopt an oak as state tree, oaks were making history farther east before the state of Illinois existed. In fact, some oaks living today sprouted before Illinois existed.
An average white oak grows to about one hundred feet tall and can live to be 350 to 400 years old. Thus, a white oak that reached the age of 400 in the year 2000 would have sprouted in 1601, before the United States existed. It would have been sixty-one years old in 1662, older than most people lived in those days.
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