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The First Christmas Lights
One would think that Christmas lights have been around for as long as Christmas itself.
Can any of you imagine Christmas without lights? How would the children find their way in the dark, so early on
Christmas morning without them? The history of Christmas lights is intricately tied to the dawn of the modern era,
when houses began to be supplied with electricity. As you
probably know, Thomas Edison invented the first functioning
light bulb back in 1879.
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A few years later,
in 1882, an associate of him first employed the use
of lights on his Christmas tree. Edward Johnson was
the first to electrically light his family Christmas
tree in his New York home. His home was located in
one of the first sections of the city that were
connected to electricity.
A visiting reporter from Detroit reported the
following in "The Detroit Post and
Tribune":
"Last evening I walked over beyond Fifth Avenue
and called at the residence of Edward H. Johnson,
vice-president of Edison's electric company. There,
at the rear of the beautiful parlor, was a large
Christmas tree with a picturesque and uncanny aspect.
It was brilliantly lighted with many colored globes,
about as large as an English walnut, and was turning
some six times a minute on a little pine box. There
were eighty lights all encased in these dainty glass
eggs, and about equally divided between white, red
and blue. As the tree turned and the colors
alternated, all the lamps went out and were re-lit.
The result was a continuous twinkling of dancing
colors, red, white, blue, white, red, blue all
evening."
In 1890, Edison published a promotional brochure
which may have been the first mention of commercially
available electrically powered Christmas lights. It
stated that "There are few forms of decoration
more beautiful and pleasing than miniature
incandescent lamps placed among flowers, or
interwoven in garlands for decorating Christmas trees
or conservatories."
From there, the popularity of Christmas lights
exploded. Before long, every family had them and they
became synonymous with the Christmas tree. It’s
hard to imagine Christmas without Christmas lights.
Mr. Edison, you have
given us all a gift we will always cherish!
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