Ridge Historical Society
The First Chicago Christmas Tree – Part 4
By Carol Flynn
Chicago displayed its first municipal Christmas tree in 1913. This was the first time a giant tree lit with electric bulbs was displayed in a public space for everyone in the Chicagoland area to enjoy. A lavish lighting ceremony was held on Christmas Eve.
New York City displayed the first municipal tree in 1912, and Chicago, Boston, and other cities followed the next year. In Chicago, the Municipal Christmas Festival Association was formed to plan and manage the activities. The honorary president was Mayor Carter H. Harrison. There were over fifty honorary vice-presidents representing business and industry, civic associations, churches, newspapers, welfare and social agencies, and education. Amalie Hofer Jerome, from the Hofer family on the Ridge, represented the Civic Music Association. Artists including the famous sculptor Lorado Taft donated their design talent to create the display.
The tree was set up off of Michigan Avenue, just north of the Art Institute on land considered part of Grant Park then.
The tree was created from a 35-foot Douglas spruce mounted on a 40- foot base, covered by smaller trees, topped with a star of Bethlehem. The trees were donated by Frederick A. Jordan, of Roselawn, Michigan. He was the partner of the late Captain Herman Schuenemann, whose “Christmas Tree Ship” had gone down in Lake Michigan the year before while bringing trees to Chicago.
The tree was set in a 25-foot-tall arcade composed of arches and smaller Christmas trees, all lit with colored lights. Commonwealth Edison supplied the lights for the tree and arcade. Steam train engines from the Illinois Central Railroad were behind the arcades, blowing steam to create a special effect of fog. The tree was doused with water and frozen first, then slowly lit for a dramatic, icy effect.
A hospital station with volunteer doctors and nurses was set up to deal with injuries and lost children.
The lighting event on December 24th was almost curtailed by a blizzard earlier in the day. The streets were impassable and local transportation was impeded. Thousands of men poured out from lodging houses to help clear the snow – there was not enough work for all of those who showed up to help. The snow was soon cleared, and the event was able to go on as planned.
Thousands of free train tickets were made available for children so that families could come to the event, and over 100,000 people showed up.
The lighting ceremony started with a parade down Michigan Avenue, which included the police force and mounted Illinois National Guard cavalry. Speeches, and musical performances from a variety of sources, including the Chicago Grand Opera Company, followed, broadcast through huge megaphones. Motion pictures for children, mostly public safety features, were shown on a huge screen near the Art Institute.
Mayor Harrison pushed the button to illuminate the tree around 6:15 p.m., and the crowd gave out “lusty cheers.” The mayor’s speech was included in the record for the City Council. He stated that he hoped this would inaugurate a long series of celebrations for the city, and that the lights may serve as an inspiration to charity, the greatest of all virtues.
The festivities went on for several hours. There were a few minor glitches – the train engines, promised to be silent, were not, and drowned out some of the performances. The star of the opera who was promoted for the event was a no-show. Children were confused about the identity of Mayor Harrison – he was not fat enough to be Santa Claus.
The program was completed with the singing of the Star-Spangled Banner.
The police had assigned 250 men to detail the event. The officer in charge declared the crowd to be the “biggest, happiest, most cheerful, best and easiest handled” crowd he had seen.
The tree was illuminated nightly until the New Year.
The great success of this first tree led to the tradition that has now been going on for 108 years.
Image: The first Chicago Christmas Tree, 1913.
Next post: Some background information on early electrical technology in the City of Chicago.