The Walking Stick Tree - Vincennes , IN
Posted by: 
YoSam.
N 38° 40.662 W 087° 31.924
16S E 453718 N 4281145
Legend of the Walking Stick Tree
Waymark Code: WM1084V
Location: Indiana, United States
Date Posted: 03/19/2019
Views: 2
County of Marker: Knox County
Location of marker: S. 4th St. & Vigo St., Vincennes
Date Marker Erected: A. D. 1953
Erected by: The Gulf Refining Company & the Vincennes Old Post Association
Marker Text:
This Plaque Marks the Exact Spot
Where Stood For Over A Century
THE WALKING STICK TREE
Said to Have Grown From A Cane
Stuck in the Ground By
FRANCIS VIGO
In 1800
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THE VIGO STREET MYSTERY
"Vigo was certainly a man of many accomplishments, but why was he deemed worthy of a street name?
'“The simple answer is we don't know,” Day said. “Sometimes streets were named because a particular person lived on it, but we don't know that he ever lived on Vigo. Perhaps it was just named in his honor.”
"There was a story that surfaced some 100 years or so after his death, Day said, that one day while Vigo was still alive and officials were surveying the area, he came along and stuck his Osage orange walking stick in the corner at Fourth and Vigo, thereby marking the street's spot.
"For many years, it's said that an Osage orange tree grew there from that stick, though it was eventually cut down and replaced with a bronze marker encased in red brick that can still be seen today.
'“That was supposedly where the Francis Vigo tree stood," Day chuckled. "But I highly question that story." ~ Vincennes Sun-Commercial