A couple of days ago I reblogged a post ostensibly about NYC’s first public Christmas tree, a Great Depression morale booster in 1931. Unfortunately the story was inaccurate. The top photo shows the hoisting of the city’s first tree (perhaps) in Madison Square Park, circa 1912. To the immediate left of the tree is the silhouette of Madison Square Garden’s tower (this was MSG II 1890-1926). Photo from the LIbrary of Congress. Beneath it is a poem commemorating the tree, giving an insight into the era’s consciousness. The poem comes from an enjoyable retrospective here: 1912: When New York’s First Public Christmas Tree Was Delivered by Horses
This really doesn’t do it any justice at all, but here it is in The Sun on December 23, 1912:
And a little more info about the tree (from The Sun, December 21, 1912):
