Christmas in Evansville

Evansville in the late 1860s celebrated Christmas with a flurry of activity starting in  early December.  Churches prepared elaborate Christmas programs.  Shoppers filled the streets of Evansville.  Merchants hoped for crowds of people to fill their stores and purchase gifts for family and friends. 

Horse drawn carriages, sleighs, and wagons brought shoppers into the city from the surrounding countryside.  A few of the wealthy citizens made shopping trips to Janesville or Chicago by the Chicago-Northwestern passenger service.  

Shortly after Thanksgiving, the Evansville merchants made trips to Chicago to purchase merchandise for the expected Christmas shoppers.  Then the shop owners advertised their goods through the columns of the Review:  “The attention of the public is called to new goods, shawls, Christmas presents and nearly all kinds of new and fashionable milliner wear at Mrs. Sawtell’s.  Call and see.”

 Isaac Hoxie, the editor of the Evansville Review in 1868 could hardly contain his excitement about Christmas:  “Holiday-time is upon us.  The winter wind stings keenly; the stores are filled with crowds of eager purchasers and sight seers gazing at the array of beautiful things; the youngsters hearts are all aglow and their imagination runs riot on the question as to what Santa Claus will put into their stockings.  Christmas is coming.  One should have the pen of a Dickens to fitly describe the enjoyments and gladness of this happy season.  In the words of little Tiny Tim—one of the most famous of the children of his genius—‘God bless us every one.’  May we strive to make this indeed a Merry Christmas to our friends and families and especially the poor, who we ‘have always with us,’ and to whom the holidays bring bitter memories and sorrowful tho’ts.”

Christmas trees in private homes were rare.  Each of the four churches in the community had a tree as part of their celebration of the holiday.  The Baptist, Free Baptist, Congregational and Episcopal churches presented a Christmas program on or near Christmas Eve.  The program was called a “Christmas Tree.” 

Each congregation provided a decorated tree that had been cut from the pine forests of northern Wisconsin or Michigan.  One member of the congregation was responsible for going to Chicago on the Chicago & Northwestern train to purchase the tree and bring it back to Evansville.  The decorations on the tree were usually small presents for the children. 

The “Christmas Tree” programs were held in the churches or rented halls.  Members of the congregation performed music, dramas, and speeches.  Adults were charged an admission fee of fifteen cents.  Children were admitted free, if they were members of the church’s Sunday School.  Other children were admitted after paying a ten-cent fee. 

Each church promised that Santa Claus would be present at the “Christmas Tree” to distribute the gifts.  Parents and friends were also invited to bring “useful or ornamental” presents to put on or near the tree.  The Review editor suggested presents that parents and friends could bring to be distributed by Santa.  The list included sleds, dolls, clothing, skates, boots and shoes and all kinds of toys.  Review readers were often reminded not to forget the pastor or the printer.

The programs were so popular that the churches and halls were filled to capacity by the time the program began.  The Methodist’s rented Treat’s Hall on Main Street for their program in 1873 and before they could set up the stage to prepare for the music and dramatic entertainment, people began arriving.  By the time the program began, the hall was “densely packed with old and young, from far and near.”  When the entertainment provided by the musicians and actors ended, Santa Claus appeared with gifts.

By the 1870s, the Episcopal congregation, always one of the smallest in Evansville, held their Christmas Tree program in private homes.  In 1874, the congregation easily fit in the home of Isaac Bennett on the southwest corner of Main and First Street (today’s Allen-Meredith Funeral home at 103 West Main.) 

Each year, the editor of the Review, Isaac Hoxie attended as many of the church celebrations as he could, in order to report the activities at the various churches.  Hoxie was invited to the Bennett’s Episcopal Church program and described the Christmas celebration.  “A tree and entertainment was held at Mr. Bennett’s.  The gathering was ample—just the size of Mr. Bennett’s residence.  A table was prepared, and ladened with such as the peculiar taste and fancy of the party might provide.”

When the meal was finished, the tables were removed and the distribution of presents began.  Hoxie reported the scene.  “The board was cleared, chairs and seats were arranged and the distribution of presents closed the public scene.  A few of the presents were noted as those of more than especial attention; others of more value perhaps, graced the pendant boughs of the Northern pine, but were concealed from view.  Surmounting the topmost branches was a large monogram card bearing the legend, “God bless Our Home,” a present for Mrs. Dr. Evans; also a camp chair and a beautiful emblematical tripod for the toilet stand, for Mrs. Bennett.  Mrs. Finn received a beautiful hanging basket.  The envelope addressed to their pastor, Rev. Henry Green, no doubt, contained the substantial reward of his spiritual labors.” 

Through the years, Dr. Charles M. Smith, William H. H. Johnson, Dr. John M. Evans, Dr. John M. Evans, Jr., Mrs. Finn’s boarding house, and Pearl Campbell hosted the Episcopal gathering.  On one rare occasion, in 1881, the Episcopal congregation rented Magee’s Hall and charged admission for the Christmas program.  After their rectory was completed in the 1884 and if there was a resident pastor, the church held the Christmas Eve celebrations there. 

Following his attendance at the Bennett’s party, Hoxie briefly attended the Free Will Baptist Church program and noticed the “tree ladened with presents, rich, rare and lovely, for middle age, aged, and youth.”  William H. Hatfield had purchased the Free Will Baptist Christmas tree and a committee, including Mrs. Janes, Amanda Winston, Carrie Parker, Mrs. Sutphen, Mrs. Palmer and Mrs. Peter Aller decorated the tree.

Hoxie also attended the Congregational Sunday School program and noted some “fine stage scenes of a juvenile character—tableaux, declamations, music, etc.”  The tree at the Congregational celebration was also loaded with gifts for young and old. 

On Christmas Day, the bells of the Episcopal Church rang out and a church service was held to celebrate the day.  Unless the holiday occurred on Sunday, the other churches did not hold Christmas Day services. 

“There is no festival, no anniversary like Christmas.  It sends a rippling wave of happiness around the globe.  It magnifies and intensifies the joys of life,”  Hoxie exclaimed in his report of Christmas.  “Such gatherings to the little folks, are the hay days of their enjoyment, and will linger in memory while their little lives shall last.”

In the 1800s, there was no municipal snow plowing of the streets and roads and heavy snows prevented large celebrations at Christmas.  In 1877, the roads in the countryside were impassable and consequently, there was very little activity on the streets of Evansville on Christmas Day.  Although many people had sleighs, the deep snow and unplowed roads prevented the horse-drawn vehicles from traveling. 

Stores were usually open on Christmas Day, for the last minute shoppers.  Although the shelves were nearly empty, according to Hoxie’s observations.  In 1884, there were three jewelry stores operating in Evansville and they held many items that were recommended as presents.  C. B. Morse had watches, clocks, silverware, and jewelry.  A jewelry store, operated by Ed Fischer and another by I. A. Taggart depended on the Christmas shoppers to make their operations successful.  Fischer’s “large and well-selected stock” in 1884 failed to keep him in business and by 1886, Ernest J. Ballard had bought the bankrupted Fischer’s jewelry stock and established his own jewelry store. 

The post office was kept open, in case last minutes gifts and cards arrived on Christmas Day.  The post office was in a store that also sold toys and books, for the convenience of customers.  Rural carriers also made the rounds on Christmas day, and those anxiously awaiting cards and gifts hoped that the snow would now block the postman’s path.

The railroad had special rates for the holidays and many took advantage of the rates to attend gatherings with distant relatives and friends.  Trains were often delayed because of the large numbers of people who arrived and departed from the Evansville depot to travel on the Chicago & Northwestern. 

If weather permitted, there was skating on the millpond (Lake Leota).  Sleigh rides and jingling sleigh bells could be heard in town and in the country, if there was enough snow.  Some Christmases were mild.  Christmas Day of 1889 was so warm that some said their Christmas dinner could have been a picnic in the park.

Turkey was the favored meat for Christmas dinner.  The festivities in many homes continued long after the meal was finished.  Caroling parties sang beneath the windows of Evansville homes.  The carolers sang old hymns and carols. 

On Christmas night there was usually a dance at one of the public halls.  Over the years, the community gathered at one of the public halls, Morehouse’s, Magee’s, the G. A. R., or the Grange Hall to listen and dance to music from a small orchestra. 

After the City Hall was built in 1892, there was a community gathering place and at least on church used the hall for their Christmas celebration.  In 1894, The Congregational Sunday School performed the cantata, “The Flight of Santa Claus” in the City Hall.  The children were given roles as fairies and brownies in the cantata.  Instead of the usual Christmas tree, there was a chimney, built with boxes designed to look like bricks.  The boxes were filled with candy that was distributed to the children following the performance. 

By the early 1900s, the Methodist, Congregational, and Baptist churches had been remodeled with large meeting rooms to accommodate the crowds that attended the Christmas program.  The churches no longer rented halls for their Christmas Tree entertainments. 

In 1907, St. Paul’s Catholic Church celebrated Christmas Midnight Mass its new church.  In the early 1900s, Christmas was the only day in the year, that the Catholic Church allowed a Mass to be celebrated before dawn. 

When the two large department stores, the Grange and the Economy, were completed in 1904, Christmas shoppers and wishful children were attracted to the beautifully decorated store windows.  Following the lead of the department stores in the larger cities, the Grange and the Economy competed for the Christmas shoppers’ attention.  The attractive displays encouraged the owners of smaller shops to decorate with toys and Christmas scenes to attract passersby. 

In December 1905, the Grange Store filled their windows with merchandise from each department and a created a skating scene.  The Economy put in a Christmas church scene built with starched linen handkerchiefs.  The lighted scene was especially beautiful at night.  Clark’s store, a smaller general store on the corner of Main and Madison, made a store window display, “The Dreamer.”   Decorating store window with special Christmas displays became a tradition that is carried on to the present. 

In the early years of the 20^th century, protestors began railing against “the spirit of commercialism.  No one blamed the store owners, or the individual shoppers, but some began complaining about “the spirit of commercialism” that was taking over the holiday.

Those who complained believed that Christmas had become “an exchange of commodities.” The gifts, “for politeness sake and to keep up the deception” were labeled. “Christmas presents.” 

According to an editorial in the Review, Christmas had been obscured by “greed, avarice and graft.”  The writer blamed the tyrants and rulers who made men into machines for their own gain.  “The real thought and sentiment of the day—the Christ day—with Peace on earth and good will toward men, is fast vanishing, and is even now pretty much obscured.”

Such negative judgment of the holiday seemed lost on the organizers of the church programs, the store owners and generous individuals in the community.  The Christmas Tree programs continued and gifts were “greatly appreciated.”  It was a favorite time for church members to give generously to the pastor and his family. 

Well-to-do residents helped to make Christmas merry for children from families who were less fortunate due to illness and poverty.   In 1911, Dr. and Mrs. George Spencer and Evansville banker, George Pullen and his wife, invited 17 children from the families of Mrs. Feld, Mrs. Stiff and Mrs. Husett to attend a Christmas gathering at the Spencer and Pullen homes on West Main Street.  There was a dinner at the Spencer home and the children ate “with gusto that showed the appetites of the visitors were second only to the Christmas spirit of the host and hostess.”  A Christmas tree filled with gifts for the children at the Pullen home.  There were “gifts and candy and popcorn galore.”  Ralph Smith and Cal Broughton gave each of the children a box of candy to take home with their presents. 

In 1913, the Methodists began the practice of having two trees, one for the members and one “for those less fortunate in the possession of this world’s goods.”  Children from the congregation showed the true spirit of Christmas by bringing many presents to be placed around the tree dedicated to the poor in the community.

The spirit of Christmas in Evansville long ago was expressed with the “Old Time Christmas Cheer.”  Those who celebrated wanted “to invoke happiness, to radiate sunshine, to give in such a way as to impart the feeling of supreme good will, and to make the day as it should be one of gladness and in which the little ones are the centers around whom all the delights of the day should cluster, and from whom we may obtain divine inspiration which makes for the better men and uplift of humanity.”