Battle Creek Had The SECOND Electric Christmas Tree in the U.S.

During the Holidays, there's nothing that can put you in the Christmas Spirit faster than a fully-lit Christmas Tree. Even though many stores prematurely put them out for sale, and light them up, you still can't help but feel at least a LITTLE bit of the Christmas Spirit.

But Christmas Trees weren't always lit with the multi-colored light strings, and flashy ornaments like we know today. In fact, early on, if you wanted to light your Christmas tree, it was done with candles... Not very safe. But sometime after the Turn of the 20th Century, electric lights began popping up on Christmas trees, and Battle Creek was one of the first places to do it.

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On December 18, 1914, Battle Creek first set up their public electric Christmas tree in what was called "Central Park" at the time. Now, it's the area next to the Willard Library.

On Christmas Eve, the switch was thrown for the first time, and 350 lights lit up a tree that was normally only fully visible during the daytime, as electricity was a novelty at the time. On that night, Battle Creek became the second city in the country to have an outdoor, public, electric-lit Christmas Tree.

The City of Battle Creek made a HUGE spectacle of the ordeal, and brought in 3,000 children to witness such a magical moment. They were also accompanied by "acres of spectators," who came to see the tree, and the carolers.

Once the tree was lit, carolers rode around the town, singing in 8 automobiles. The tree continued to be lit up every night through Christmas, a tradition that has obviously grown and changed in the nearly 110 year history of the event.

Battle Creek, by the way, was only second to one of the most famous Christmas Trees in all of existence - The Madison Square Park Tree in new York. The lights on that tree were donated by the Edison Company.