Alden Home First to Have Lighted Outdoor Christmas Tree Here

 Marietta Sunday Times, December 22, 1929

Marietta's first decorated outdoor Christmas tree is said to have been the lighted tree in the front yard of Mr. and Mrs. J. B. Alden at 202 Sacra Via about 15 years ago, so far as folks remember. The idea that is now universal in the East was inaugurated here by Mrs. A. M. Briggs, daughter of the Aldens, who came from her home at Garden City, Long Island, to spend the yuletide at that time. And, the beautifully lighted tree was there in honor of little Miss Priscilla Alden Briggs, the granddaughter of Mr. and Mrs. Alden.

Mrs. Briggs not only brought the idea of a beautifully lighted Christmas tree in the out-of-doors, but she brought also the pretty colored bulbs which decorated the tree. Outdoor decorated tees have been regular features on the Alden premises ever since.

According to John Kaiser, one of the first decorated outdoor Christmas trees in Marietta was one sponsored as a newspaper enterprise, when there was a community Christmas tree on the court house premises years ago. The school children of Marietta sang Christmas carols, with Professor James Bird the director, the program commencing at 4 o'clock in the afternoon of Christmas day. And one of the largest crowds ever assembled down town was there to witness the first community Christmas tree festival. B. F. Strecker donated the tree that was quite large, and the Sprague Electric Company placed the strings of bulbs.

Among those who had outdoor decorated trees for the past seven or eight years are Mrs. J. S. Goebel and John Dietz. They use living evergreen trees which grow on their premises. Mrs. Goebel uses an arbor vitae and a Frazier fir, and Mr. Dietz an arbor vitae.