Why Does Kansas City Have A Mayors Christmas Tree? The Tradition Goes Back To 1882

Each year, the Mayor's Christmas Tree is displayed at Crown Center during the holiday shopping season. His arrival, sometimes on November 3, is a sign of the season.

What are new residents and KCQ? The reader wonders how long this municipal tradition has existed in the city.

Its roots can be traced back to the 1870s, when the town was young and it was hoped that a new railroad would help shed its river town image and establish it as an important link between western farms and eastern markets.

At the time, the mayor oversaw the administration of poor residents' aid, a task Mayor George M. Shelley apparently took it seriously. Despite the city's rapid growth in the 1870s, the winter of 1878 was considered harsh by some residents.

"Many of these people, especially the unemployed, wouldn't have had Christmas if the mayor hadn't given it to them," Shelley said, recalling 1925.

Those in need can order supplies for the Christmas dinner at City Hall. At her own expense, Shelley bought enough food to fill about a thousand baskets. He also bought 50 cordwoods and collected them for those in need at the Markplein (now City Market).

Those who come to the town hall to collect baskets will find a fairly modest tree with little enthusiasm.

According to a 1929 story in the Kansas City Star, German immigrant Oswald Karl Lux built the first Christmas tree in the area in 1882, which was burned.

He couldn't find a Christmas tree of the right size to light up and decorate with candy and toys, but he took matters into his own hands, wanting to share the German traditions he grew up with. Lux, a cabinetmaker, uses brooms for trunks and a solid tree to cut saplings for branches. He collected green boughs from Union Cemetery and tied candles to the boughs.

The Lux family tree became a hit in Westport, where the family lived, and a few years later, perhaps because of its popularity, a shipment of trees from Michigan arrived in Kansas City for others to decorate similarly.

Shelley repeated the act of charity the following Christmas with a party at Turner Hall at 10th and Main, where she impersonated Santa Claus to entertain children.

The following year, Charles A. Chase is elected mayor and closes the Christmas basket and festivities. There may be a good reason for this, but it's easy to be remembered as Scrooge without knowing it.

Trackable scrounging through various controls.

Finally, in 1908, Thomas T. Crittenden Jr. The mayor's Christmas presents have been retrieved. Mayor Crittenden was on the planning committee for the Fraternal Order of Eagle's annual children's Christmas party and wanted to do something similar at the city level.

Crittenden started the Mayor's Christmas Tree Fund and is seeking donations from the public to pay for parties and Christmas trees. The first campaign raised nearly $10,000. On Christmas morning, the children arrived at the Assembly Hall and found "the biggest tree available...with baskets of food for needy families and piles of candy and toys for the children."

The revived team had no problem. The crowds awaiting the opening of Congress Hall on Christmas morning were larger than expected. When the news spread, the surrounding children rushed to the village.

Some participants removed the stamps or hid them in their hands so they could take more than one basket. Others requested extra baskets for siblings who could not attend. In the end, about 2,000 children went home empty-handed. To add to the pressure, frustrated kids pull out vouchers, which they exchange for their gift baskets the next day.

Despite the problems, Mayor Crittenden declared the party a success and assured the citizens that it would be held again next year.

and retreated.

The Mayor's Christmas Tree Association has learned from past mistakes and is making changes. When asked about receiving gift baskets from other towns' children, Crittenden was hesitant. He simply said that more money would have to be raised in the future.

The organization remains neutral and XX. This is no small feat in a city whose 20th-century history was defined by the democratic machine and the politics of republican reform. Everyone works together year after year to make the party run smoothly.

Although public life in Kansas City was in many ways racially segregated, the mayor's Christmas party was open to "all races, creeds, colors and castes."

The mayor or other officials always play the role of Santa Claus. Vaudeville shows and plays to entertain children of the first year. Subsequently, most films took its place. Until 1935, the festivities were held in the Conference Hall, then the event was moved to the newly opened City Auditorium.

Mayor H. Roe Bartle made several important changes during his administration. It wasn't until 1955 that he decided to directly donate part of the organization's funds to the city's elderly and disabled residents; Continued to give gifts to poor children, but stopped celebrating.

Bartle replaced it in 1957 with the mayor's Christmas tree lighting ceremony. On December 12, about a hundred people gathered at the Plaza Auditorium (now Barney Allis Plaza) to see the 35-foot lighted bartle. Before pressing the button on the tree, he said, "This will be the Kansas City Christmas tree," a symbol of love and a reminder to his fellow citizens not to forget those in need.

The 42-member Bendix Choraleers vocal group sang Christmas carols to the audience. And with that, the mayor's Christmas tree lighting ceremony was born.

Gillham Park was home to the tree from 1959-1972. The following year, the city moved it to its current location at Crown Center, where the annual lighting ceremony is held the Friday after Thanksgiving.

The 1973 lighting ceremony almost didn't happen. In response to the US oil embargo in the Middle East, President Richard Nixon urged Americans to conserve energy by limiting holiday light displays. Mayor Charles Wheeler said the tree will remain dark. After Thanksgiving, the square lights are turned off.

But when the Nixon family announced they would lead the lighting of the national Christmas tree on the White House lawn, Kansas City organizers saw it as a shortcut. The lights on the square were turned back on and Wheeler announced that a tree lighting ceremony would be held on December 14. That year, both exhibitions were held with a limited schedule.

Mayors traditionally turn the keys, but sometimes they get help. Players from the Chiefs, Royals and Sporting KC shared the honor. Celebrities with Kansas City roots like Janelle Monae, Tech N9ne, Eric Stonestreet and Rob Riggle are out. Kevin Strickland, who was acquitted and paroled in November 2021 after being wrongfully imprisoned for 42 years in a 1979 murder, was honored by Mayor Quinton Lucas last year.

Although modern forms of charity have replaced food baskets and toys, the Mayor's Christmas Tree Fund continues to raise money to help those in need during the holidays.

There are many ways to give; The popular way of giving began in 1981 with the annual sale of Christmas ornament designs. Acclaimed artist Sheyda Best designed the 2022 set to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the event's move to the Crown Centre. Purchase online or at the Crown Center from the night of the event.

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