Pears

Until this past fall I had never noticed all the decorative pear trees that have been planted. Now that I am looking for them, I see them everywhere. They are especially noticeable in the early winter because they lose their leaves very late if they lose them at all. Many still have their leaves when there is snow on the ground.
Here is a large specimen about a mile out on Bunkum Road. There are also smaller examples closer to town, along the new addition to Weston Cemetery.
Driving through Watseka, Illinois, I noticed that there were decorative pears planted for most of the length of the highway as it passed through town. And in a tree nursery on I-57 near Gillman, there were thousands of young ones growing. Have these pears become the new fashion in small trees?