Mahwah, NJ poet Joyce Kilmer honored in NYC with refurbished plaque, ceremony

A refurbished memorial plaque honoring Mahwah’s favorite son and poet, Joyce Kilmer, was dedicated in ceremonies at Central Park in New York City on Veterans Day, Nov. 11.

Kilmer, a native of New Brunswick, wrote “Trees” in 1913 while a resident of Mahwah. He lived there until his death on July 30, 1918, at the age of 31, during the Second Battle of the Marne while serving with New York’s 69th Infantry Regiment in France during World War I.

Poet Joyce Kilmer during his service in World War I. Photo Provided By The Joyce Kilmer Society Of Mahwah

Refurbished memorial at base of elm tree in Central Park, New York City. (Photo Provided By Dabjeet Sarkar)

The plaque and an elm tree honoring Kilmer were originally dedicated west of the Mall near 69th Street in Central Park in July 1931, sponsored by the Catholic Writers Guild and presided over by the Rev. Francis Duffy, chaplain for the Rainbow Division, in which Kilmer served. The tree was a gift from the Davey Tree Expert Organization.

The Nov. 11 ceremony was organized by Veterans Day 2025 and the Central Park Conservancy.

Speakers included Alex Michelini, founder of the Joyce Kilmer Society of Mahwah. Michelini recited the poem after discussing his research at the Georgetown University Lauinger Library, which uncovered a notebook and letter confirming that the poem was written Feb. 2, 1913, at the Kilmer home in Mahwah, resolving long-standing questions about its origins.

Kilmer taught Latin at Morristown High School in 1908, followed by work for Funk & Wagnalls in New York City from 1909 to 1912. His daughter Rose was stricken with polio shortly after her birth in 1912, leading to Kilmer’s conversion to Catholicism in 1913. He was writing for the New York Times Review of Books and its Sunday Magazine at the time “Trees” was composed.

“Trees” was first published in Poetry magazine in August 1913, and later was published in the collection “Trees and Other Poems” in 1914.

Kilmer enlisted in the 7th Regiment of the New York National Guard in April 1917, shortly after the U.S. entered World War I. He was assigned to the 165th Infantry Regiment, redesignated the 69th New York Infantry Regiment, or the “Fighting 69th” of the 42nd Rainbow Division.

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