Well, I'm feeling more stumped and confused than I did when I stumbled on it
I don't think Chinaberry grows this far north...never heard of it anyway.
I don't think it's Cottonwood as I typically know that when I see it...but I guess it's possible.
That is a Sassafrass in the top pic on the left side...I see a cherry peaking through the upper right of that pic too.
Red Oak, hmmm...
To be honest I don't know...just spent the last 2 hours looking at every tree book I own and searched hundreds of Google images of all the trees you folks mentioned but it really didn't look like any of those. The pics really make the furrows and ridges of the bark look deeper than they really are, it almost had a "smooth" feel to it when I touched it...kinda Beach-y but I know it isn't a Beach.
Gonna have to go for another walk tomorrow with the camera again...take some more pics of the "crown" shape and also to see if I can find/reach and smaller branches in an attempt to find some type of bud, etc. It got pretty tall pretty quick with no real understory to speak of...
Thanks guys...I really appreciate the effort, I just hate being stumped