THE HISTORY Christmas lights up the city
In the US of the early 1900s Christmas lighting was driven by the two mainstays of the 20th century American holi- day season, department stores and Christmas trees. In a few decades the lights spread all over the cities and then conquered the whole country. For Americans Christmas has traditionally been not only a religious but also a very commercial festivity with retailers doing their best to entice the public to bring it money to their stores. And in the first half of the 20th century the retail business was ruled by large multi-story department stores with their abundant offerings of all kinds of goods anybody could desire or imagine. A department store really was the Christmas dreamland for all the kids. Obviously, all the department stores – and other retail out- lets – tried to outdo each other with lush Christmas window displays, nativity scenes, music, and outdoor decorations. Electric lights naturally played an important part as can be seen on a 1915 photo of the Houghton & Dutton store in Boston, Massachusetts.
Also, Christmas trees were becoming a universal custom in these times, as were electric lighting decorations, with
the introduction of a White House Christmas tree in 1895 playing an important role. Public Christmas trees with elec- tric lights were displayed in 1904 in San Diego and 1909 in Pasadena. The New York City Christmas celebration was an idea of a group of philanthropists that was realised in 1912, garnering national attention and solidifying the image of a Christmas tree with electric lights in the public’s mind.
Slowly, Christmas lights were also finding other uses than on Christmas trees.
In 1919 John Malpiede, the official city electrician of Denver, Colorado, inspired by a tradition of communi- ty Christmas lighting that had been going on for a few years and the country's first outdoor-lighting contest
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