It’s the most wonderful time of the year!
It’s the time of year when Christmas lights are in full swing lighting up the town; and each year they get more extravagant than the last. You don’t have to search far to find the most flamboyant display in your area. Your news feed might be blowing up with first time home buyers excitingly putting up their Christmas decorations. As the festiveness continues it makes you wonder how this tradition even came to fruition.
For many it’s been a family tradition to hang the Christmas lights along your rooftop and, as they’ve evolved over
recent years, around your yard. While this ritual might seem fairly new, it turns out Christmas lights’ roots date back to the 19th century – from a Christmas tree! And while we might be dazzled in awe of their aesthetic appearance today, the first Christmas lights were a bit more monotonous.
Attached only by pins or melted wax, lit candles lining the family Christmas tree was the first notion of Christmas lights! Unlike today where lights and decorations are set up a month in advance, sometimes even earlier, Christmas trees in the 1800’s were only set up a few days prior to Christmas day, with the candles lit for only a few minutes. It’s hard to imagine a plane Jane Christmas tree with candles as your lone light to show off the most vibrant color of the season!
Thankfully, in 1880 Thomas Edison shook up the Christmas lights world and introduced the first concept of electrical lights and strung them around his laboratory. However, Edison’s friend and partner at Edison’s Illumination Company, Edward Johnson, took electric lights to the next level. Showing his American pride, Johnson wrapped 80 hand-wired, red, white and blue light bulbs around his Manhattan tree! In 1895, President Grover Cleveland displayed the first electrically lit Christmas tree, bringing national attention to the trend.
For the most part, there isn’t a retailer who doesn’t sell Christmas lights these days – and for a price many can afford, especially on after holiday sales! However, this wasn’t the case when Edison and Johnson first started marketing their creations. They were so expensive that the first ad published by General Electric in Scientific American Magazine suggested renting lights to put on display! A single strand of lights cost $12. That’s $300 in today’s money! Even if you had the money to purchase them, you still had to hire a wireman, aka an electrician, to wire your stringed lights! To put that into perspective, in today’s dollars it would have cost $2,000 to light your Christmas tree with electric lights.
Though Edison and Johnson are coined for creating the first electrical lights we string around our homes today, NOMA has been credited for making safe, affordable Christmas lights available for the general public in the 40’s and 50’s. Since then, people have decorated their house with lights, becoming the trademark of the Christmas season!
Our family at Bluegrass wishes you and your loved ones a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Remember, if you are ever in need of a trusted landscape company, our experts will deliver high quality work. Give us a call at 314-770-2828 or use our simple contact form to discuss your landscape needs.
Related Sites
Everyday Mysteries: Fun Science Facts From The Library of Congress. (n.d.). Retrieved from Library of Congress: http://www.loc.gov/rr/scitech/mysteries/christmaslights.html
History Behind Christmas Lights. (2006). Retrieved from High Country Lights: http://www.highcountrylights.com/fun-activities/christmas-light-history.html
Jacob, C. (2009, December 13). Christmas Lights, The Brief and Strangely Interesting History Of. Retrieved from Gizmodo: http://gizmodo.com/5425395/christmas-lights-the-brief-and-strangely-interesting-history-of
Topley, S. (2014, December 9). A History Of Christmas Lights. Retrieved from ebuyer: http://www.ebuyer.com/blog/2014/12/a-of-history-christmas-lights/
