Christmas trees have been at the heart of American Christmas holiday celebrations since the 1800s. The beloved tradition began in the Northeast and migrated west with pioneers and settlers.
The tradition of bringing an evergreen tree indoors and adding decorations began in Germany. The tradition evolved from winter solstice customs and as a symbol of everlasting life.
When German settlers came to the United States in the mid-1800s, they brought their Christmas traditions with them.
The Christmas tree tradition gained international appeal in 1848, when the popular royal couple, German-born Prince Albert and Queen Victoria were shown in a London News illustration standing around a decorated Christmas tree with their children. This image helped popularize the tradition in Western cultures, and by the mid-1800s the trees were found in many American homes in eastern cities.
In the fledgling rural towns of Southern California, traditional Christmas celebrations outside churches didn’t become popular until a little later.
An article in the Dec. 19, 1857, issue of the Los Angeles Star lamented the lack of festive Christmas celebrations in the city. The article described joyful Christmas celebrations in the East, and noted the only celebrations with a Christmas tree in Los Angeles were in churches.
The unknown author of the article wrote, “we have broken loose from the usages of other lands, and the high festival of Christmas is passed over without note.”
On Dec. 31, 1859, the L.A. Star carried a column about an elaborate Christmas party at the San Gabriel mansion of Benjamin D. Wilson, a wealthy local politician, entrepreneur, rancher, and explorer.
The center of Wilson’s Christmas decorations was a 12-foot pine tree brought down from the nearby San Gabriel Mountains and decorated with “costly and beautiful presents of the benign Saint [Santa Claus] who is said to preside on such occasions.”
The San Gabriel and San Bernardino Mountain ranges border the populations centers of Southern California, and both ranges are home to several kinds of pine and fir trees. However, in the late 1800s, roads into the mountains were generally poor or non-existent, and it would have been at least an all-day affair to get a suitable tree from the local mountains.
Documentation or mention of Christmas tree harvesting in the late 1800s is scarce, so it’s likely there were individuals, community groups, or small-scale entrepreneurs making treks into the local mountains for Christmas trees.
By the late 1860s, the Christmas tree was becoming the center of holiday celebrations in Southern California.
On Jan. 4, 1868, the Guardian Newspaper in San Bernardino reported on the festivities at the local Congregational Church: “A Christmas tree was provided and duly furnished with toys and presents for the children.”
Early tree decorations were usually handmade from available material such as paper, cotton, popcorn, fruit, nuts, and shiny trinkets.
Blown glass tree ornaments were introduced in Germany in the mid-1800s, and were imported to the U.S. in the late 1800s by merchants like F.W. Woolworth.
Glass tree ornaments became common in Southern California stores by the 1880s, and in December 1888, the Redlands Bazaar was advertising “Toys, Christmas Tree Ornaments, Candles, etc.”
Candles were commonly used as lighting on Christmas trees, often with disastrous results.
In December 1902, a celebration in East Highland nearly turned deadly when cotton balls sewn onto a Santa suit were ignited by candles attached to the Christmas tree’s branches. Children and onlookers were aghast to see Santa rushing from the hall in flames, but several men stopped him and smothered the flames with coats.
Electric Christmas tree lights were developed in 1882, but they weren’t affordable for the general public until around 1905. Electric tree lights were a major safety improvement, but the early versions had risks from heat and exposed wires.
Artificial Christmas trees were introduced in the 1880s, but they didn’t become more life-like and popular until the early 1900s. By the 1920s, large retailers like Sears & Roebuck and Montgomery Ward were offering artificial trees in their catalogs.
The bristle brush type of artificial tree was introduced in the 1930s, and they were basically adaptations of scrub brushes. Aluminum Christmas trees became popular in the 1950s and 1960s before the modern plastic versions took over.
Several sources claim the first retail Christmas tree lot was started in 1851 in New York City, by a Pennsylvania entrepreneur named Mark Carr. Christmas tree lots became popular in Southern California in the late 1800s and early 1900s. In Los Angeles in 1909, you could buy a 10-foot Oregon fir Christmas tree for $1.50, and a 20-foot tree cost $7.
In 1912, a graceful 60-foot balsam tree was placed in New York’s Madison Square, and the city’s first municipal Christmas tree was an immediate success.
By 1915, cities across the country and Southern California, including Long Beach, Pasadena, Redlands, Monrovia, and San Bernardino, were setting up municipal Christmas trees. They continue to use them as the centerpiece for their community celebrations today.
Large, living Christmas trees became centerpieces of Christmas celebrations across Southern California, and in 1920, “Christmas Tree Lane” was born in Altadena.
Frederick Nash, a resident of Altadena came up with the idea of stringing festive Christmas lights along a quarter-mile corridor of beautiful deodor cedar trees on Santa Rosa Avenue, better known as Christmas Tree Lane. The tradition continues today, even after the Eaton fire ravaged the area earlier this year. The community gathered Dec. 6 to celebrate the tradition that amid catastrophe in January seemed nearly impossible.
Today, Christmas tree sales are a multi-billion-dollar industry, and they are still the center of Christmas traditions. According to data from the National Christmas Tree Association, Americans spent about $5.6 billion on real and artificial Christmas trees in 2024 and the trend continues upward.
Mark Landis is a freelance writer. He can be reached at Historyinca@yahoo.com.