Historic eucalyptus tree cut down

A decades-old eucalyptus tree that long towered over the Villages at Rancho El Dorado was chopped down last week. 

The iconic tree stood in the backyard of John and Mary Lou Smith’s home tucked just off Butterfield Parkway. The family are real Maricopa O.G.s and the namesake of Smith-Enke Road. 

The cotton farming couple sold their farmland to a developer under the condition they could keep their house, built in the late 1950s. The Smiths and their eucalyptus together watched Maricopa’s landscape transform from crops to rooftops. 

The tree, perhaps the first installment in Maricopa’s “skyline,” predates the house. It’s likely one of the two oldest trees in the city, along with the century-old “Union Pacific Palm Tree” near the water tower, according to the Maricopa Historical Society. 

Landscapers clipped shaggy limbs off the tree’s canopy April 3. Two days later, they were spotted hacking down the trunk piece by piece. 

The Smith home, and the 2.5 acres of land it sits on, is not part of the homeowner’s association that services neighbors on all sides. That means an HOA didn’t mandate the tree be cut down. 

City officials also stated they did not have any involvement with the tree being cut down. It remains unclear why it was removed.