FORT WORTH, Texas — “High atop a windswept Texas Hill, stood a crooked little tree.”
That’s from a story many in Cowtown already know. "The Homeless Christmas Tree" by Leslie Gordon tells the tale of a real-life tree off Interstate 30, and how a kind woman in the 1980s decorated it for the struggling families who didn’t have trees or their own.
The tree has been decorated ever since, drawing inspiration for over 30 years.
But in the days after Christmas 2020, the stump of that old tree, the sapling growing to take its place and a memorial bench vanished, dug up and hauled away without explanation.
The Texas Department of Transportation owns the land but says it is not aware of any activities in the area that would have involved those items being disturbed or removed.
Fort Worth police and the office of mayor Betsy Price couldn’t say what happened either.
Despite the mystery, all over town people started remembering, sharing pictures and stories from over the years.
“Of what use is one ugly little tree,” reads a page in Gordon’s book.
That tree inspired over 30 years of memories and reminded residents to consider those less fortunate around the holidays.