Christmas lights were invented as a publicity stunt.

Science & Industry

T homas Edison is known as one of history's greatest inventors, but he was also a master of marketing. In 1879, Edison's incandescent bulb was still in its infancy, but the inventor was already vying to bring electricity to the public. In December that year, he made a display of electric lights at his laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey, illuminating the property with dozens of his new electric bulbs and inviting the public and press to see. Thousands of people visited the display that winter, dazzled by what the bright future held.

Electricity remained a rarity for most people for several years after that; lighting homes still required open flames, including the precarious use of candles on Christmas trees. But three years after Edison's first light display, Edward H. Johnson, vice president of the Edison Electric Light Company, gave the public another glimpse of possibility. He wired up a Christmas tree by the window in the parlor of his New York City home with red, white, and blue incandescent bulbs, the first electric Christmas tree lights.

At first, electric Christmas lights were far too expensive and impractical for most families. Early sets had to be custom wired by electricians, a job that cost around $2,000 in today's dollars. But Johnson's stunt drew plenty of attention, just as he and Edison hoped. "I need not tell you that the scintillating evergreen was a pretty sight — one can hardly imagine anything prettier," the Detroit Post and Tribune raved.

General Electric began manufacturing preassembled string lights at the turn of the 20th century, and by the mid-1900s, electric Christmas lights had shifted from a luxury to a beloved seasonal tradition.

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By the Numbers

Lights on the Griswold house in 1989's National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

25,000

Average temperature (in degrees Fahrenheit) of the hottest part of a candle flame

2,550

Did you know?

Canada sends Boston a giant Christmas tree every year.

In December 1917, a massive explosion occurred in the harbor just off the busy World War I port city of Halifax, Nova Scotia. The blast, which happened when a French munitions ship and Norwegian relief vessel collided, flattened much of the eastern Canadian city. In the frantic days that followed, the nearby city of Boston sent skilled medical personnel and sorely needed supplies; more help, money, and household donations continued to arrive in the coming weeks. The following year, Nova Scotia sent Boston a Christmas tree as a thank-you for the generous relief efforts. The gesture didn't become a tradition right away — another tree wasn't sent until 1971 — but every year since then a massive 40- to 50-foot Christmas tree has been sent from rural Nova Scotia to Beantown, where it lights up the Boston Common.