Canton tree stands as monument to Berne’s historical heritage

Authored by Jim Langham on Dec 5, 2011

As the Muensterberg Plaza continues to develop; the construction of the canton tree has become one of the most attractive draws to those visiting the area the last several weeks. As anticipated, a large amount of landscaping was accomplished this fall in preparation for next spring, as well as several of the monumental intents of the plaza's architecture.
Attorney David Baumgartner, who heads up the Community Development Corporation's leadership at the plaza, stated earlier that the purpose of including the tree is to honor the various cantons of Switzerland. He noted that it is composed of a wood post with crests of each of the Swiss cantons, plus a crest for the United States; Switzerland; Indiana; Canton Bern; Berne, Indiana; and Trachselwald, Berne’s sister city.
"There will be 64 crests in all, 32 on each side of the canton tree," Baumgartner said recently in an explanation of the tree. "There is only one other known canton tree in the world, and that is in London, England. It was given to England from Switzerland in 1991.
"The canton tree post is one solid piece of pressure treated pine from Arkansas, measuring 32 feet long and 18 inches square," continued Baumgartner. "It contains 864 board feet of lumber. There are 60 annual rings in the post."
A steel sleeve, constructed by Universal Metal Craft of Decatur, will be attached to the pine trunk. The trunk will hold the branches of the tree, which will also be made of steel and will hold the crests. The crests are being made by Display Craft of Portland.
“The look of the southeast corner of the plaza will be transformed by the addition of the canton tree,” said Steering Committee Co-Chairman Jim Beitler.
“We’re anxious to have this one-of-a-kind feature added to the plaza.”
The canton tree is fully funded—paid for by a private donation.
A list of the Cantons of Switzerland includes the following: Graubunden, Bern, Valais, Ticino, St. Gallen, Zurich, Fribourg, Lucerne, Aargau, Uri, Thurgau, Schwyz, Jura, Neuchatel, Solothurn, Glarus, Basel-Country, Obwaldon, Schaffhauser, Geneva, Nidwalden, Appenzell Ausserhoden, Zug, Appenzell Innerhoden, and Basel-City.
According to Wikipedia, the 26 cantons of Switzerland are the member states of the federal state of Switzerland. Each one was a full sovereign state with its own borders, army and currency from the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648 until the establishment of the Swiss Federal State in 1848. The most recently created is that of Jura, which separated from Bern over certain differences in 1979.
The name, canton, is derived from the French language expression, canton, which literally means corner of district. The cantons were originally formed according to geography with forest cantons being classified as democratic republics, while urban cantons republics were controlled by noble families.
Wikipedia notes that each canton has its own constitution, legislature, government and court, with legislatures varying between 58 and 200 seats.

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