oak tree

On Saturday, June 7, 1919, Lt. Col Mygatt, brother of regent Julia Powell, invited the chapter to the U.S. Aerial School (or Ross Field) in Arcadia. They motored to the camp arriving about noon and were escorted by Col Mygatt and his wife to the only live oak tree on the camp grounds. Here under the oak's great spreading branches they enjoyed a bountiful picnic luncheon. Julia read a pledge she had written to true Americanism and after the chapter voted to adopt it, Col Mygatt placed a copy of the pledge into a small vial and inserted it under the bark of the oak tree. The tree was named San Fernando Valley Chapter Charter Oak.

In June 1939, Col Mygatt visited the fields again that now had been turned into Santa Anita Recreational park and recognized the gnarled old giant. A weather-beaten burl on the trunk is in reality a cemented handle to an inserted tube containing the pledge. The tree was to have been marked with an inscribed bronze plate, (research is continuing on this).

An acorn from the historical charter oak was planted by William P. Granger in front of the home of his son-in-law and daughter Mr. & Mrs. J.C. Maclay, 905 Fourth Street, San Fernando. When the street improvements were put in, the tree was removed and Mrs. Maclay gave it to Brand Park where the oak was planted as a memorial to her father and mother, February 26, 1924.