THE LITTLE-KNOWN STORY OF AMERICA'S MOST FAMOUS CHRISTMAS TREE
Each year, millions of tourists from around the world flock to New York City's Rockefeller Center to catch a glimpse of America's most famous Christmas tree - an iconic harbinger of the holiday season.
But few know the heartwarming origins of the Rockefeller Tree - which date back almost a century to the Great Depression.
In 1931, as the country grappled with the devastating economic collapse, construction of the Rockefeller Center, then known as the RCA building, was underway in the heart of Manhattan.
Masterminded by oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller Jr., the ambitious Midtown project was designed to transform the New York skyline and provide much-needed jobs to the city's workers.
As the winter chill moved in, some of the Italian-American immigrants employed at the construction site - many of whom were struggling to pay the bills - decided to add some cheer to their lives with a low-cost Christmas tree.
They pooled their funds to purchase a 20-foot balsam and decorated it with a string of cranberries, a few tin cans and homemade paper garlands from their families.
Though a far cry from the glitz of today's towering evergreen, it became a display of optimism as workers lined up beside the plant on Christmas Eve to receive their wages while the country was grappling with poverty.
It was in that exact place - one year later - that Charles Ebbets snapped the iconic picture of Rockefeller construction laborers pausing to eat lunch with their legs dangling on a suspended beam high above New York City.
The photograph became emblematic of American life, much like the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree has come to symbolize hope for the holidays.
In 1933, the opulent new tower at Rockefeller Center was completed and the company decided to make the Christmas tree an annual tradition.
The 40-foot evergreen was strung up with 700 lights that year in the first official lighting ceremony.
In 1936, officials erected two trees to celebrate the opening of the skating rink and also held an ice skating pageant.
During WWII, three trees were posted to show support for the troops - one in red, one in white and one in blue.
The décor was patriotic but humble, comprised of blue globes and wood painted stars- none of the materials needed for the war effort could be used to deck the halls and the trees remained unlit due to wartime blackout rules for three years between 1942 through 1944.
Blackout rules were imposed to ensure that no residual light from the city was cast onto the fleet of American ships in the harbor.
When the war ended in 1945, Rockefeller Center celebrated with six massive ultraviolet light projectors to give the illusion that the tree's 700 fluorescent globes were glowing in the dark.
'From the beginning, the tree was a gathering place and reflection of what was happening in the world around,' writes the Rockefeller Center's website.
By 1950, the decorating process called for 20 full-time workers, nine days and extensive scaffolding. 1951 marked the first year that NBC televised the tree lighting ceremony on 'The Kate Smith Show.'
As the decades passed, the number of visitors drawn in by the glittering spectacle has snowballed - along with the height of the tree.
The Rockefeller Center Christmas tree now draws about 750,000 visitors a day, and an estimated 125 million people per year during the few weeks that it's on display.
The tree is usually a Norwegian Spruce and must meet the desired dimensions of 65-feet tall and 35-feet wide; narrow streets surrounding Rockefeller Center limit the height.
Typically the trees stand around 75-feet tall but they broke the record in 1999 with the largest evergreen to ever grace 30 Rock Plaza at a towering 100-feet tall.
This year's 80-foot evergreen comes from the Albert family in West Stockbridge, Massachusetts - the first Rockefeller Tree from the state since 1959.
The beloved tree arrived in Manhattan on November 9, and it's set to be lit during a live broadcast on Wednesday.
It will take five miles (about eight kilometers) of light strands with more than 50,000 multicolored LED bulbs to wrap the tree, whose diameter measures 43 feet (13 meters).
A Swarovski star crown sparkling with three million crystals will top it.
It was met in New York City by smiling crowds who held cellphones aloft from behind barriers as crews attached cables to the giant tree, pounded a stake into its base and guided it into place.
'The crowds were big today. They were one of the biggest crowds I´ve ever seen that come to a tree raising,' said Erik Pauze, the head gardener at Rockefeller Center, who wore a candy cane-striped hard hat.
Once lit on December 4, the tree will glow daily from 5am until midnight through mid-January - apart from on Christmas Day when it illuminates the plaza' for a full 24 hours.
Read more 2024-12-01T22:16:38Z