Here's the bark....(haven't figured out how to post more than
1 pic at a time).

Ash / Fraxinus?

Elm was my first thought but that does look like ash bark.

Amazing if it is ash. EAB is going to cost that neighborhood some money :(

Equally amazing I guess if that many elms are left!

Thanks for the reply.
Can ash trees have that "vase" shape too?
(btw....please ignore the partial tree on the far right, that's
a honeylocust on my property).
I'll look up pics of ash.......

One of my four old large ash trees was a multi trunk fella with more or less that shape. I think of a more rounded look for mature ash but a man with a chainsaw might be able to change that.

Thank you both.

When the leaves emerge, I'll compare to the pics of
ash and elm I've found online.

You can tell between those two genera now looking at the twigs and buds.

I would guess green ash. Elms have alternate branching, ash have opposite branching.

I think the soil of Wisconsin is filled with vicious micro-organism. My Gardenia brought from East Coast die rapidly once in Wisconsin.

Thanks everyone.

I see opposite branching (with my binoculars), so I think
it is Ash. Will have to pray the beetles stay away.

Definitely ash, and very likely green ash. These are street trees and from my own work, I know that green ash was an absolute workhorse tree for such applications for a couple decades following the demise of the American elms. Not just as replacements but for general planting of streets in new subdivisions or whatever.

Monoculture as applied to plantings of this sort are entirely appropriate. It's easy to dismiss this practice now that emerald ash borer is in the area, but the range of choices available to municipal foresters can be quite limited, once all factors are considered. Green ash would grow anywhere, in any soil/moisture condition, and grow fast to boot. We quit working with all Fraxinus more than ten years ago, as EAB showed up on the horizon. BTW, if that pic is in SE Wisconsin, those trees are truly threatened by this insect. That's the area where it has invaded the state first and most heavily so far. For my tastes, I'm really going to miss white ash. They're one of my favorite northern hardwood species. But even these green ash had their good points. It was always kind of easy to take them for granted, but no longer.

+om

According to neighbors, these were planted in 1958-1959 at
the time the houses were built south of Milwaukee. They
do remind me of the elms I grew up with in the 1950's...and
I'm bummed that they are not long for this world. I love the
way they look.
Thanks for the additional info Tom.

I will post my vigorous and huge American Elm picture soon.