Vintage Christmas Lights: Part I: History

 Vintage Christmas Lights: Part I: History

or to the widespread use of electric lighting in homes, people used actual candles to light their Christmas trees, however as one might think, this was very dangerous and often led to house fires. By the 1920s and 1930s, more and more people had begun using electrical lighting in their homes and were becoming more comfortable with the idea of using electric lights for their Christmas trees as well.

In 1879, Thomas Edison invented the very first practical light bulb. In 1882, just three years later, Edward Johnson, vice president of Edison's new electric company, used electricity to light a Christmas tree in the parlor at his home in New York. Johnson's Fifth Avenue residence had been located in the first section of New York to be wired for electric lighting. The beautifully lit tree caused such a commotion, it was even reported on by a journalist for the Detroit Post & Tribune. The journalist was amazed at the "tiny, colored glass eggs" in colors of red, white, and blue that were lit using electricity from a wire from the main office of the home and also used an electric crank below it to continuously rotate the tree, allowing it to be seen on all sides from anywhere in the room.

Although people were amazed at Johnson's "electric Christmas tree", in 1882, most people did not yet have their homes wired for electricity and each light for the tree would have had to have been wired individually by a "wireman". President Cleveland, sponsored the first electrically lit Christmas tree at the White House. The tree featured over 100 multicolored electric lights and truly a sight to see. In those days of the early 1900s, a Christmas tree featuring electric lights, cost upwards of $300, which is equivalent to about $2000 in today's economy, which made it too pricey to be affordable to most families.

Luckily, a more affordable option for lighting Christmas trees soon became available in the form of battery operated string lights. While this option still required one to wire the lights themselves, Popular Electricity Magazine ran a piece geared towards children that detailed the process and even instructions for ordering the materials needed to complete the job. General Electric began renting out the bulbs in some American cities which was a more affordable option as opposed to outright purchasing the expensive bulbs.

The first pre assembled lighting outfit for Christmas trees was offered by GE beginning in 1903, at a cost of $12, which was still quite expensive as this was also the weekly wages of the average worker of that time, and would be the equivalent of about $100 in today's markets. These new kits were called "festoons" and consisted of eight pre-wired porcelain sockets, eight colored glass lamps, and a screw in plug, and was recommended for use on the average tabletop Christmas tree. A copy of the 1903 GE article can be seen here as found at Bill's Antique Christmas Light Site.

The electric Christmas lights industry was born when the American Eveready company attempted to patent their electric lighting strings, but was denied by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office who decided the sockets used were not really a new invention, but rather were "based on common electrical knowledge". Many companies began producing and selling their own versions of the electric lighting sets after this decision was made public.

Timeline

• 1879- Thomas Edison invents the first practical electric light bulb
• 1882- Edward Johnson introduces the world to the first Christmas tree to feature electric lights
• 1892- General Electric Company is founded and purchases the rights to Thomas Edison's light bulb and his light bulb factory
• 1895- President Cleveland displays the first electric lighting on a Christmas tree at the White House.
• 1901- the first commercially available lighting sets are offered, but mainly marketed to businesses to be used in storefront display windows since they were socket-less and had to be hand wired.
• 1903- the first set of pre-wired Christmas tree lights are offered to consumers by GE
• 1905- American Eveready begins selling lighting sets under their own company name and unsuccessfully tries to gain a patent for them
• 1909- Austrian figural lamps are first made available to the American public
• 1910- The traditional pear shape of the first Christmas lights begins to shift to a perfectly round globe style
• 1920- A flame shaped Christmas tree light utilizing tungsten filaments is first offered and becomes the industry standard throughout the 1970s
• 1922- GE discontinues the manufacture of their globe shaped lights.
• 1922- Cheaper, lower quality milk glass machine made figural Christmas lamps begin to be sold by Japanese companies as an alternative to the clear glass Austrian and German handmade lamps
• 1923- The "tri-plug" connector for Christmas lights is invented by Lester Haft to allow for the connection of several strands of lights
• 1924- a ribbed version of the popular cone shaped lights is introduced and replaces the original smooth lamps
• 1926- NOMA, officially formed one year prior becomes the iconic NOMA Electric Corporation, the largest Christmas lighting company in the world.
• 1935- General Electric introduces candle shaped Christmas lights
• 1945- General Electric drops the use of MAZDA on its products
• 1946- Sylvania debuts their new fluorescent Christmas lights, which are a lovely pastel color
• 1946- NOMA introduces their newest and most famous product, Bubble Lights, but since they are unable to gain a patent for them, other companies are producing their own versions by 1947
• 1950- "Fairy Lights" begin to be sold, made in Italy, Holland, Germany, and a few other countries. They had no bases and wired directly into the light string.
• 1951- GE switches to the use of aluminum for their lamp bases and most other companies soon follow suit
• 1955- introduction of "twinkling lamps"
• 1958- GE introduces globe shaped "lighted ice bulbs", which are still in production today
• 1965- NOMA files for bankruptcy
• 1970- By this year, nearly all Christmas lights are foreign made

I hope you liked this post on the history of vintage Christmas lights. This was part of one of a series. In the next post, Part II, I'll take a closer look at the different styles that became popular and even those that faded into oblivion throughout the decades. There's still a few more days for you to take advantage of the 30% off Christmas sales going on at both, TheVintageVixenShop and aVixenChristmasShop, so be sure to check those out before the time is up! Also, if you feel so inclined, you can subscribe to this blog and/or follow me on social media using the links below.

I hope you and your families are enjoying an amazing holiday season and will have a very merry Christmas! And as always, until next time, Happy Hunting!