Crews cut down tree older than Chicago at Lincoln Park Zoo

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Crews cut down a centuries-old tree at the Lincoln Park Zoo Tuesday.

The bur oak tree ultimately grew to stand about 70 feet tall. It has seen Chicago evolve for more than two centuries, possibly three.

A chainsaw buzzed its way through the giant canopy branches of a bur oak tree that's been growing in the heart of the Lincoln Park Zoo for 250 to 300 years.

Lincoln Park Zoo visitors say goodbye to tree older than Chicago

"It's possible this tree witnessed the Chicago fire, witnessed, you know ,the establishment of the city of Chicago," Maureen Leahy, VP of animal care and horticulture at the Lincoln Park Zoo, said.

The tree is being removed in pieces, with the help of a crane gently lowering sections of the majestic oak to the ground.

Despite years of loving care from horticultural staff, zoo officials say the tree had reached its natural end of life. The top of it had died and it was becoming a safety risk near the public pathways.

"Unfortunately, for safety reasons, if one of these large branches were to fall, it would be a significant safety risk," Leahy said.

Tuesday morning, Michelle Salomon and her husband Mark Burns from Lincoln Park came to see it one last time.

"We come here, I think of the memories of the kids doing the safari stampede and during the holiday lights where they have different things in this area," Salomon said. "It's always been there so it's going to be a little bit of a hole."

"We don't let anything go, right?" Burns said. "Our sports teams win once a century, so we really get excited when they win. We don't like changing names of buildings. We like to hold on to things. Yes."

Last week, zoo guests wrote letters to the bur oak to celebrate its life and legacy and say goodbye.

And over the weekend Native American faith leaders gathered for a traditional blessing of the tree's eternal spirit.

SEE ALSO: Lincoln Park Zoo news: All 3 new lion cubs are boys, veterinarians say

Meanwhile the tree will live on....the zoo has been working with the Morton Arboretum to preserve it's genetics and create a new generation of identical trees.

"I love the idea that it's gonna live on right?" Burns said. "It's lived it's natural life here but it's gonna continue its life somewhere else and I guess the Morton Arboretum isn't too far away."

The tree will also be used for art and parts of it will be used for teaching.