Loved it until it split

Its sounding like a perfect Bradford Pear replacement if they all split open!

Haha! Half of it is flowering anyways. Wonder why the flowers are mostly on the east side of the tree. Its actually a pretty neat effect.

They seem to have a penchant for splitting apart late in life. Old one in a Hagerstown, MD cemetery.

I do not have one of my own, but have seen them over time in public spaces. One set is in a public park in Madison, Wisconsin ( slightly alkaline clay soil and zone 5) and the other set is in a very large garden in front of a classroom building on the campus of the Univeristy of NH near the seacoast (zone 6 with acid, loamy soil). Both have looked healthy though soils are quite different, and they seem to grow fairly slowly. I have not seen anyissues, but both sets are less than 20 years old.

Mine took part in fall in two sections but a different pattern than when floweing.

Beautiful trees. The one I've seen in Maine is gorgeous and healthy. Big and thriving. Lovely flowers

To answer part of the question first: Every native tree makes an excellent Bradford Pear (Pyrus calleryana clones) replacement - every time it's tried. There doesn't have to be a qualifier. Like any other planting, tailor the selection to the site conditions, and plant away. Eliminate these pestiferous species every chance you get, and learn to grow the plant communities suited to your part of the world, and watch the native flora and fauna applaud and thrive.

American Yellowwood is native to my neck of the woods - at least nearby in the Kentucky River valley along the palisades. These are limestone-based soils, and droughty in summer/fall many years. While I can't show you any current photos of native stands, I have photographed this species (with slide film back in my former life before digital cameras) in native stands in Yellowwood State Forest in central Indiana. Visiting there in the late 1980s, Indiana DNR staff showed me more than a few elegant old plants, tall and slender in the understory. They also lamented the lack of regeneration, due to white tail deer overpopulation and voracious grazing. "Eet Mor Venison..."

This species has long been used as an ornamental in mid America, especially on large institutional grounds in the Ohio River valley region. The national champion(s) long volleyed between Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati and Cave Hill Cemetery in Louisville, a legacy of those sites being early rural landscape cemeteries with strong horticultural pursuits since the 1850s. As noted, this species does not often produce a dominant single trunk, so early pruning to reduce narrow crotches helps with longer persistence without failure. Commercial production unfortunately creates worse conditions when seedlings are "headed back" to force side branching - or "bushing out". The nursery wants a saleable plant earlier, and the nonsensical consumer demands that artificial habit. There is plenty of blame to go around.

If it were me, I'd plant a seedling and encourage growth upward versus sideways. If in a wide open sunny specimen site, it is going to trend wider and branchier. If planted as part of a woodland, it is going to trend upward seeking the light in competition with its surrounding trees. Fall color is pretty much always a good yellow, and on individuals you may find a very attractive golden/orange/yellow character. The plants I'm most familiar with will flower heavily in alternate years, but with attention to nutrition and moisture throughout the growing season I think you will find satisfactory bloom every year.

Here are a few friends from my past...

Former national champion at Cave Hill Cemetery (2008 May 16)

Here are a couple of the very old specimen at Bartram's Garden in Philadelphia. The full plant shot is from the May 1995 University of Kentucky Horticulture Club student trip to the northeast and Canada; the second shot is from an November 2017 Holly Society of America tour stop which includes an informational plaque about this plant.

I could do this forever, but I'll curb my enthusiasm with one more fond memory. The big old specimen in Cherokee Park (planted circa 1895 as part of Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr.'s design) held forth for over 120 years in this Louisville public park. These flowering photos are from May 2015; my last pictures from April 2019 show more trunks on the ground than erect. Farewell, old friend...

VV, thanks for a nice overview. One wonders why they couldn't have done some cabling on the old yellowwod you show. Brits used to put wooden supports under leaning trunks of valued trees.

Here's a young one coloring well in a tiny PA cemetery.