Kwansan Cherry Trees
An early project of the White Plains Beautification Foundation was the planting of 207 Kwanzan
cherry trees on the grassy median of outer Mamaroneck Avenue in 1970. The funds needed
to purchase and plant the trees came from donations. At a cost of $100 each, the cherry trees
were primarily memorials to loved ones, and donors also named people they wanted to honor.
A large bronze plaque inscribed with the names of those honored and remembered is attached
to a boulder at the entrance to Leslie B. Gillie Park on Gedney Way.
Through the years, damaged cherry trees have been gradually replaced by a hardier variety of
flowering trees.
At the same time as the median planting, the foundation planted small groves of Kwansans in
Tibbits Park on Broadway, which years later inspired the annual cherry blossom festival in early
May. These trees, in their protected park setting, have flourished and attained full height and
maturity and are a beautiful spring spectacle.