1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:09,200 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio, 2 00:00:11,000 --> 00:00:15,280 Speaker 1: Hello and Welcomed. This Day in History Class a show 3 00:00:15,360 --> 00:00:18,200 Speaker 1: that shines a light on the lesser known moments of 4 00:00:18,320 --> 00:00:23,360 Speaker 1: everyday history. I'm Gabe Bluesier, and in this episode, we're 5 00:00:23,440 --> 00:00:27,840 Speaker 1: celebrating a breakthrough in holiday decorating the first time that 6 00:00:27,840 --> 00:00:39,559 Speaker 1: a Christmas tree was trimmed with electricity. The day was 7 00:00:39,600 --> 00:00:44,600 Speaker 1: December twenty second, eighteen eighty two. The first Christmas tree 8 00:00:44,640 --> 00:00:47,920 Speaker 1: with electric lights was displayed at the home of Edward 9 00:00:48,040 --> 00:00:51,600 Speaker 1: Hibbard Johnson. He placed the tree in the front window 10 00:00:51,680 --> 00:00:54,080 Speaker 1: of his house in the Murray Hill neighborhood of New 11 00:00:54,200 --> 00:00:57,160 Speaker 1: York City and lit it with a strand of specially 12 00:00:57,160 --> 00:01:01,560 Speaker 1: made light bulbs. There were eighty balls total, each about 13 00:01:01,560 --> 00:01:04,080 Speaker 1: the size of a walnut, and they glowed in the 14 00:01:04,120 --> 00:01:09,080 Speaker 1: colors red, white, and blue. Johnson, a longtime colleague of 15 00:01:09,160 --> 00:01:13,520 Speaker 1: Thomas Edison, had commissioned the lights specifically for his Christmas tree. 16 00:01:13,840 --> 00:01:17,280 Speaker 1: Prior to him, people traditionally lit their trees with wax 17 00:01:17,360 --> 00:01:21,160 Speaker 1: candles clipped to the branches, a dangerous practice that often 18 00:01:21,280 --> 00:01:25,119 Speaker 1: led to house fires. The safety of electric Christmas lights 19 00:01:25,240 --> 00:01:28,520 Speaker 1: was a major selling point once Johnson's innovation caught on, 20 00:01:28,959 --> 00:01:31,200 Speaker 1: but it took a long time for that to happen, 21 00:01:31,400 --> 00:01:34,800 Speaker 1: as the public's distrust of electricity and the initial high 22 00:01:34,840 --> 00:01:37,600 Speaker 1: cost of the bulbs restricted their use only to the 23 00:01:37,640 --> 00:01:42,480 Speaker 1: wealthy for several decades. Although Edward Johnson is now remembered 24 00:01:42,520 --> 00:01:45,479 Speaker 1: as the father of the electric Christmas tree light, the 25 00:01:45,560 --> 00:01:49,480 Speaker 1: history of the lights themselves actually begins with Thomas Edison 26 00:01:49,600 --> 00:01:53,480 Speaker 1: two years earlier. In December of eighteen eighty, less than 27 00:01:53,480 --> 00:01:56,440 Speaker 1: a year after proving light bulbs were practical at all, 28 00:01:56,840 --> 00:02:00,560 Speaker 1: Edison hung the very first strand of electric lights outside 29 00:02:00,560 --> 00:02:04,680 Speaker 1: his laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey. There's no indication 30 00:02:04,840 --> 00:02:07,840 Speaker 1: that he meant for the lights to be associated with Christmas, 31 00:02:08,200 --> 00:02:10,960 Speaker 1: but he was hosting a holiday dinner and the lighting 32 00:02:11,200 --> 00:02:15,640 Speaker 1: just seemed to fit the festive mood. Edison's guests reportedly agreed, 33 00:02:15,919 --> 00:02:18,880 Speaker 1: and so did the many railroad passengers who happened to 34 00:02:18,919 --> 00:02:21,840 Speaker 1: travel past his lab only to be treated to their 35 00:02:21,880 --> 00:02:26,120 Speaker 1: first look at an electric light display. That said, even 36 00:02:26,160 --> 00:02:29,919 Speaker 1: if Edison deserves credit for inventing stringed lights and using 37 00:02:29,919 --> 00:02:33,720 Speaker 1: them as Yule Tide decorations, it was Edward Johnson's idea 38 00:02:33,840 --> 00:02:37,120 Speaker 1: to hang them on a Christmas Tree. Born in eighteen 39 00:02:37,200 --> 00:02:41,600 Speaker 1: forty six in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Edward H. Johnson started his 40 00:02:41,680 --> 00:02:45,520 Speaker 1: career working on the Kansas Pacific Railroad. In the early 41 00:02:45,560 --> 00:02:48,360 Speaker 1: eighteen seventies, he moved to New York to manage the 42 00:02:48,400 --> 00:02:51,680 Speaker 1: Automatic Telegraph Company, and it was in that role that 43 00:02:51,760 --> 00:02:55,399 Speaker 1: he hired a twenty four year old Thomas Edison. Johnson 44 00:02:55,480 --> 00:02:59,200 Speaker 1: championed Edison's ideas and even helped him found his headquarters 45 00:02:59,200 --> 00:03:03,040 Speaker 1: in Menlo Park. The two men worked closely together for years, 46 00:03:03,320 --> 00:03:06,400 Speaker 1: and by eighteen eighty two, Johnson had become the vice 47 00:03:06,440 --> 00:03:10,480 Speaker 1: president of the Edison Electric Light Company. During that time, 48 00:03:10,680 --> 00:03:13,800 Speaker 1: he lived in Murray Hill, an affluent neighborhood on the 49 00:03:13,840 --> 00:03:16,600 Speaker 1: east side of Manhattan in the first section of New 50 00:03:16,680 --> 00:03:21,079 Speaker 1: York City to be wired for electricity. That December, Johnson 51 00:03:21,120 --> 00:03:24,480 Speaker 1: decided to show off his electricity and promote his company 52 00:03:24,600 --> 00:03:27,720 Speaker 1: by commissioning a string of lights made specifically for his 53 00:03:27,800 --> 00:03:31,560 Speaker 1: Christmas tree. Once they were ready on December twenty second, 54 00:03:31,760 --> 00:03:33,880 Speaker 1: he positioned the tree at the front of his home 55 00:03:34,040 --> 00:03:36,680 Speaker 1: so it'd be visible through the windows, and then turned 56 00:03:36,680 --> 00:03:49,520 Speaker 1: it on for the first time. However, Johnson didn't stop 57 00:03:49,560 --> 00:03:53,160 Speaker 1: there to make the spectacle even grander. He had also 58 00:03:53,240 --> 00:03:56,880 Speaker 1: installed an electric crank beneath the floor, causing the tree 59 00:03:56,960 --> 00:04:02,480 Speaker 1: to rotate. Johnson's revolving, gloe blowing Christmas tree dazzled passers 60 00:04:02,520 --> 00:04:05,440 Speaker 1: by and drew large crowds every night it was lit. 61 00:04:06,080 --> 00:04:09,640 Speaker 1: Several publications reported on the lighting of the first tree, 62 00:04:09,760 --> 00:04:12,760 Speaker 1: just as Johnson hoped they would. He even invited some 63 00:04:12,920 --> 00:04:16,680 Speaker 1: journalists such as William Augustus Crowfet, to visit his home 64 00:04:16,720 --> 00:04:21,120 Speaker 1: for a first hand demonstration. Crawfett gushed about the experience 65 00:04:21,200 --> 00:04:25,160 Speaker 1: in his article for the Detroit Post and Tribune, writing quote, 66 00:04:25,440 --> 00:04:29,200 Speaker 1: last evening, I walked over beyond Fifth Avenue and called 67 00:04:29,240 --> 00:04:32,479 Speaker 1: at the residence of Edward H. Johnson, vice president of 68 00:04:32,600 --> 00:04:36,080 Speaker 1: Edison's Electric Company. There at the rear of the beautiful 69 00:04:36,120 --> 00:04:40,239 Speaker 1: parlors was a large Christmas tree presenting a most picturesque 70 00:04:40,279 --> 00:04:45,240 Speaker 1: and uncanny aspect. It was brilliantly lighted with many colored globes, 71 00:04:45,320 --> 00:04:48,240 Speaker 1: about as large as an English walnut, and was turning 72 00:04:48,320 --> 00:04:51,080 Speaker 1: some six times a minute on a little pine box. 73 00:04:51,600 --> 00:04:54,760 Speaker 1: There were eighty lights in all, encased in these dainty 74 00:04:54,839 --> 00:04:59,000 Speaker 1: glass eggs, and about equally divided between white, red, and blue. 75 00:04:59,480 --> 00:05:02,920 Speaker 1: As the tree turned, the colors alternated, all the lamps 76 00:05:02,960 --> 00:05:06,400 Speaker 1: going out and being re lit at every revolution. The 77 00:05:06,480 --> 00:05:10,400 Speaker 1: result was a continuous twinkling of dancing colors red, white, 78 00:05:10,400 --> 00:05:13,839 Speaker 1: and blue all evening. I need not tell you that 79 00:05:13,920 --> 00:05:17,719 Speaker 1: the scintillating evergreen was a pretty sight. One can hardly 80 00:05:17,760 --> 00:05:22,160 Speaker 1: imagine anything prettier. The ceiling was crossed obliquely with two 81 00:05:22,200 --> 00:05:25,600 Speaker 1: wires on which hung twenty eight more of the tiny lights, 82 00:05:25,920 --> 00:05:29,120 Speaker 1: and all the lights and the fantastic tree itself, with 83 00:05:29,160 --> 00:05:32,560 Speaker 1: its starry fruit, were kept going by the slight electric 84 00:05:32,600 --> 00:05:35,760 Speaker 1: current brought from the main office on a filmy wire. 85 00:05:36,440 --> 00:05:41,080 Speaker 1: It was a superb exhibition, but as lovely as sight 86 00:05:41,240 --> 00:05:44,520 Speaker 1: as the tree was, the general public was not yet 87 00:05:44,560 --> 00:05:48,880 Speaker 1: sold on electrical illumination. Many Americans didn't fully trust that 88 00:05:48,960 --> 00:05:52,640 Speaker 1: electricity was safe, and even fewer could actually afford it. 89 00:05:53,160 --> 00:05:56,760 Speaker 1: Stringed Christmas lights were available to buy or rent as 90 00:05:56,800 --> 00:06:00,520 Speaker 1: early as eighteen ninety, but each strand cost the equivalent 91 00:06:00,600 --> 00:06:04,320 Speaker 1: of most people's weekly wage. In the earliest versions needed 92 00:06:04,320 --> 00:06:07,880 Speaker 1: to be wired by a professional electrician. The result was 93 00:06:07,920 --> 00:06:10,880 Speaker 1: that only the most well off families could afford them. 94 00:06:11,080 --> 00:06:14,120 Speaker 1: Everyone else was stuck lighting their candles and hoping for 95 00:06:14,200 --> 00:06:18,560 Speaker 1: the best. President Grover Cleveland is often credited with helping 96 00:06:18,560 --> 00:06:22,359 Speaker 1: to popularize electrically lit Christmas trees, as he insisted that 97 00:06:22,400 --> 00:06:25,239 Speaker 1: one be installed in the White House in eighteen ninety five, 98 00:06:25,760 --> 00:06:28,279 Speaker 1: but it wasn't until a couple decades later that the 99 00:06:28,320 --> 00:06:32,039 Speaker 1: practice really caught on. The turning point came in nineteen 100 00:06:32,160 --> 00:06:36,320 Speaker 1: seventeen when a teenage New Yorker named Albert Sadaka read 101 00:06:36,320 --> 00:06:39,039 Speaker 1: an account of a tragic house fire caused by a 102 00:06:39,080 --> 00:06:43,039 Speaker 1: candle lit Christmas tree. His family owned a novelty company, 103 00:06:43,160 --> 00:06:46,920 Speaker 1: and Albert urged them to start manufacturing affordable strands of 104 00:06:47,000 --> 00:06:50,800 Speaker 1: Christmas lights. His parents took his advice, and while sales 105 00:06:50,839 --> 00:06:53,960 Speaker 1: were slow at first, the public gradually came around once 106 00:06:54,000 --> 00:06:56,400 Speaker 1: they realized the lights no longer cost an arm and 107 00:06:56,440 --> 00:07:00,320 Speaker 1: a leg. Within a few years, larger companies such as 108 00:07:00,320 --> 00:07:04,279 Speaker 1: General Electric began making their own low cost lights, and 109 00:07:04,320 --> 00:07:07,880 Speaker 1: by the nineteen thirties, electrically lit Christmas trees had become 110 00:07:07,920 --> 00:07:12,720 Speaker 1: a holiday fixture in American homes. As for Albert Sadaka, 111 00:07:13,120 --> 00:07:16,240 Speaker 1: he and his brothers started a company devoted entirely to 112 00:07:16,320 --> 00:07:20,000 Speaker 1: the manufacture and sale of Christmas lights. They later teamed 113 00:07:20,080 --> 00:07:22,480 Speaker 1: up with some of their competitors and formed a trade 114 00:07:22,480 --> 00:07:27,600 Speaker 1: association called the Noma Electric Company. The group's members, including 115 00:07:27,640 --> 00:07:31,280 Speaker 1: the Sadakas, then proceeded to dominate the Christmas light market 116 00:07:31,400 --> 00:07:36,040 Speaker 1: for the next forty years. Today, Christmas trees are mostly 117 00:07:36,080 --> 00:07:39,760 Speaker 1: strung with LED lights, which are cheaper, safer, and more 118 00:07:39,880 --> 00:07:44,160 Speaker 1: energy efficient than the old incandescent faults. That said, we 119 00:07:44,280 --> 00:07:46,760 Speaker 1: still owe a debt of thanks to Thomas Edison and 120 00:07:46,920 --> 00:07:50,080 Speaker 1: Edward Johnson for having the bright idea to light our 121 00:07:50,120 --> 00:07:57,080 Speaker 1: homes for the holidays. I'm Gabe Lucia and hopefully you 122 00:07:57,200 --> 00:08:00,120 Speaker 1: now know a little more about history today than you 123 00:08:00,200 --> 00:08:03,840 Speaker 1: did yesterday. You can learn even more about history by 124 00:08:03,920 --> 00:08:09,160 Speaker 1: following us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at TDI HC Show, 125 00:08:09,680 --> 00:08:11,720 Speaker 1: and if you have any feedback you'd like to share, 126 00:08:11,960 --> 00:08:14,120 Speaker 1: feel free to send in my way by writing to 127 00:08:14,200 --> 00:08:18,600 Speaker 1: this Day at iHeartMedia dot com. Thanks as always to 128 00:08:18,680 --> 00:08:21,840 Speaker 1: Chandler Mays for producing the show, and thank you for listening. 129 00:08:22,200 --> 00:08:24,960 Speaker 1: I'll see you back here again soon for another Day 130 00:08:25,280 --> 00:08:37,439 Speaker 1: in History class.