A Little Outdoor Christmas Lights History

Who started it all?

As many people already know, Thomas Edison invented the incandescent electric light. In the following year, 1880, he decorated his Menlo Park, New Jersey office with Christmas lights. They were a topic of conversation. Inside Christmas tree lights were first introduced by a good friend of Edison, a Mr. Edward Johnson. He was the CEO of Edison's company. Mr. Johnson made sure that New York City was illuminated with the new invention.

Much publicity was given to Mr. Johnson in the local newspapers at Christmas of 1882. It was that year that he decorated a six foot Christmas tree with sparkling lights. The magazine, "Electric World" also published this noteworthy event and described his as the "handsomest tree in the United States. The New York Times picked up the story In 1884, describing how Mr. Johnson amused his children when he first lit the six foot illuminated tree. Earlier in the previous years, Mr. Edison had invented a motor that Mr. Johnson decided to use to make the tree even more fascinating, by making it revolve on its base.

Not everyone could afford lights

Due to the fact that an electrician had to be hired to hook up the new electric tree lights, and because of the high cost of the lights themselves, the majority of families were not able to have the thrill of these lights immediately. Those families continued to use the traditional candles for lighting their Christmas trees. This way of lighting the tree remained until the early 20th century for some.

What was always feared about the candles came to fruition in New York City in 1917, when a tragic fire was caused by the candles. The first electric lights for Christmas trees were manufactured by a family in the novelty business that same year. General Electric and other electrical companies followed suit. By the 1930's Christmas lights were widely used for festive Christmas decorating inside people's homes.

In today's world, it would indeed seem strange to observe a Christmas tree, inside or outside, that wasn't beautifully adorned with bright electric lights. Each year since the time of Edison, more and more creative ways of using outdoor Christmas lights are seen. The latest thing is sparkling icicle lights strong across roof tops. These are costly, and a great deal of trouble to put up, so sometimes they are left up year round, though not turned on.

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