'Turnback Tuesday' features Elizabeth, Caroline Streets in Derby

Streets were tree-lined before Dutch Elm Disease hit

This week's Turnback Tuesday photo features a southward view of Elizabeth and Caroline Streets in Derby. 
Derby Public Library is partially obscured behind the rows of elm trees that once lined each street. Having tree-lined streets in neighborhoods was once commonplace throughout the Valley. Unfortunately in 1928, Dutch Elm Disease reached the United States and was one of the most destructive shade tree diseases in North America. 
By the mid-1940s, the disease spread to trees in Connecticut. 
The disease itself is not of Dutch origin, but was so named because early work on the disease was performed by Dutch pathologists. The disease is caused by a fungus that is transmitted by beetles. 
Hundreds of thousands of elms across the U.S. have died due to this disease. 
The good news is that resistant tree strains are starting to improve the elm tree situation. Such a tree exists on Academy Hill and is called a Liberty Elm. 

Thanks go to the Derby Public Library for sharing this interesting local history each week!