The History of Christmas Lights

The first were used in Germany and only by the very wealthy. These came in the form of candles at that time which were glued or pinned to tree branches outside the home. The candles were used to light up a pretty ornament hung above the candle. During the first part of the 1900 people were using candle holders which were, at the time, a big improvement over having to glue the candles on. In 1915 small lanterns and glass balls were being used to keep the candles in place on the tree.

Of course it had to happen sooner or later and Edward Johnson, the assistant to Thomas Edison came up with the idea of having an electric light on the tree instead of candles. He did this by lighting up a tree in New York City with 80 small electric bulbs. It took about twenty years later before these hit the market but when they did there were stores lit up everywhere and the Christmas lights went into mass production and sold to anyone that could afford to buy them. After a terrible fire due to people placing candles on top of Christmas lights the race was on to come up with a safe Christmas light bulb.

Albert Sadacca was the first one to invent the safe Christmas bulb and for him it was a find of the century. His company is still going today. We know it as Noma Electric Company. These lights became very popular and spread all over the world. Not only could these lights be used outside but they could be used inside to decorate the tree.

Today we decorate our houses, lawns and trees outside besides the tree we have inside and it’s all due to the evolution of the Christmas tree bulb. They not only light up our houses but they light up our lives during the Christmas season. Without them Christmas would not be the same so hats off to Edward Johnson for getting the electric Christmas bulb started.