Christmas in Indianapolis became increasingly commercialized as its observance became more popular. Bookseller W. E. Dunbar advertised in December 1834, newspapers “a variety of beautiful Bibles, Testaments, and other books suitable for Christmas and New Year’s presents.” Newspapers of the late 1850s included advertisements for railroad watches and sapphire rings from Talbott’s jewelry store, pianofortes from Williard & Stowell, and juvenile books and games from local bookstores. Stores during the 1900 holiday season promoted “all the popular new novels” including Alice of Old Vincennes}:: PUB , dolls, trains, wagons, and “all the things to make the visit of Santa Claus pleasant for the children.”

By the early 20th century, Indianapolis shoppers were truly caught up in the Christmas buying spirit. In 1905, Chares Mayer and Company printed a message from Santa Claus, postmarked in Numberg (Nuremberg), Germany, announcing a vast selection of toys and dolls “from this great Toy District.” Marott Department Store on Massachusetts Avenue, touting itself as “the holiday store of Indianapolis” in 1910, enticed customers with refunds of rail fares and free trading stamps.

The Christmas shopping experience expanded in 1949 with the first Christmas Gift and Hobby Show. The show became one of the largest of its kind in the Midwest featuring entertainment, food, celebrities, giveaways, and of course, an incredible array of gifts. In 2019, the show celebrated 70 years of existence.

Inspired by the elaborate Christmas window displays mounted by Macy’s of New York in the 1870s and 1880s, Indianapolis retailers L.S. Ayres and Company, William H. Block Company and Charles Mayer and Company began in the 1920s to install special displays, which later included animated figures. H.P. Wasson and Company unveiled its first window display in 1963. Although these popular displays ended with the closing of downtown department stores by the early 1990s, the Indiana State Museum, which has many of the Ayres displays and the 1950s Santaland Express train in its collections, continued the tradition through special holiday exhibits.

Outdoor Christmas decorations grew in popularity after General Electric sold its first string of tree lights in the early 1900s and after New York City erected a giant lighted tree in 1912. The practice quickly spread to other cities with Indianapolis erecting its first municipal tree in University Park in 1913.

Many towns and neighborhoods started residential decorating and lighting contests in the 1930s. By the 1940s, Broad Ripple, Lawrence, and other communities began “Twelfth Night” ceremonies, an Epiphany-based observance involving the ceremonial burning of Christmas greenery, although Indianapolis ended this practice in the mid-1980s and encouraged mulching instead. One short-lived public display was a 54-foot, 4 ton Santa Claus which the Indianapolis Industrial Exposition erected in the main concourse of Union Station in1949.

Monument Circle has been the focal point for parades and public celebrations since the early 20th century. In the late 1930s, architect Edward D. Pierre proposed adding lights and decorations on the Circle to enhance the holiday spirit. Several organizations raised funds for the effort, and by the mid-1940s trees and other decorations adorned the Circle. The city’s Department of Parks and Recreation also began scheduling choirs to provide evening concerts.

While the Indianapolis Christmas Committee (later the Indianapolis Holidays Committee, Inc.) introduced new decorations over the years, its largest project was stringing lights on the Soldiers and Sailors Monument to create the “World’s Tallest (now Largest) Christmas Tree.” This practice, first begun in 1962, has continued annually except during the late-1980s restoration of the Monument. “The Celebration of Lights (now Circle of Lights),” held after Thanksgiving, marks the lighting of the “tree” and attracts upwards of 100,000 people. For many years, the Circle also provided public ice skating.

Santa Claus parades played major roles in the Christmas celebrations of New York, Detroit, and Philadelphia. For many years Indianapolis had its own parades. To begin the 1942 Christmas season, the William H. Block Company sponsored the mile-long “Parade of Giants,” complete with 50 giant balloon figures. In 1954, Santa arrived by plane at Weir Cook Airport and led a parade along Washington Street to Block’s store. Although the Downtown Merchants Association sponsored parades into the 1960s, their popularity soon faded.

Indianapolis cultural organizations have a history of contributing to the Christmas experience as well. In 1967, the Indianapolis Zoo became the first zoo in the country to hold a holiday lights event–Christmas at the Zoo. The zoo invites visitors to view hundreds of animal-themed lights and special experiences like Santa’s Village. Newfields began another Christmas lights tradition in 2017, Winterlights at Newfields, which features millions of lights.

By the 1990s, holiday observances in Indianapolis included concerts offered by the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and TubaChristmas, featuring over 100 tuba players attired as Santa Claus. Several historic neighborhoods also sponsor holiday home tours during December.

Other institutions have celebrated different aspects of Christmas throughout the 2000s. The Indiana Historical Society features ornately decorated trees with its Festival of Trees, the Eiteljorg displays model trains on 1,200 feet of track with Jingle Rails, and the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis brings out their two-story slide during Jolly Days.

The holiday season has not been without controversy. In the mid-1970s, the Jewish Community Relations Council and the Indiana Civil Liberties Union filed a complaint with the city regarding the placement of a Nativity scene on public property, arguing that the city had violated the constitutional prohibition against mixing religious and governmental functions. The parks department ended the Nativity scene in 1976.

DAVID G. VANDERSTEL, Indiana University-Purdue University

The Diary of Calvin Fletcher (Indianapolis, 1972- 1983), passim; Indianapolis News, Dec. 20, 1913; Indianapolis Star, Dec. 16, 1976.