# evergreen trees on the top of building construction?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evergreen-trees-on-the-top-of-building-construction/347954>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 11, 2006, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evergreen-trees-on-the-top-of-building-construction/347954 "2006-03-11T17:51:43Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ste\_haruka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ste_haruka/32/7233_2.png) [@ste\_haruka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ste_haruka)\
**Post date:** [March 11, 2006, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evergreen-trees-on-the-top-of-building-construction/347954/1 "2006-03-11T17:51:43Z")

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Does any one know the reason and providence of the habit of putting an evergreen tree (and often a flag) on the top of new building construction? It seems to appear at a certain point in construction on the top floor, and though usually I have only seen it on building from scratch, so to speak, I recently saw it on a building where they were adding a floor to an existing structure. My web searches turned up nothing. Thanks.

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**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\
**Post date:** [March 11, 2006, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evergreen-trees-on-the-top-of-building-construction/347954/2 "2006-03-11T17:59:34Z")

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Here ya go:

_[History of the “Topping Out” Ceremony](http://www.columbia.edu/cu/ssw/news/apr03/history.html)_ via Columbia U.