In 1863, on this site, Robert Vinton Beall, an Oregon Trail pioneer and relative of four Maryland governors, built one of the first frame buildings in Jackson County, a Gothic Revival house listed on the National Historic Register. Beall and his brother Thomas eventually became Jackson County's most prosperous farmers. In 1864, Robert Beall planted this Illinois black walnut to commemorate his marriage to Ann Maria Riddle. Its circumference is 20 feet, 10 inches, its height is 115 feet, its crown spread is 105 feet, and its approximate age is 145 years.