6. Santa Claus comes to town
In the United States, Santa Claus first became indelibly linked with the Christmas holiday in the early 19th century, and by the 1840s A Visit from Saint Nicholas cemented the deal forever. Santa did not become a staunch ally of the retail industry until a few years later. In 1890 yet another immigrant store owner, James Edgar, a Scot who had established a department store in Brockton, Massachusetts years earlier, dressed himself as Santa Claus a few days before Christmas and made himself available for consultation with children at his store. Word got around quickly, and trains soon arrived from other New England cities, including Boston, bearing children intent on visiting Santa before he visited them on Christmas Eve. Although Edgar’s store was relatively small, other large retailers took note of the response, and for Christmas the following year many had Santas stationed around or within their stores.
Of course, the story of the first department store Santa is disputed, with Macy’s among others claiming the distinction of having first been honored with the presence of Santa during the Christmas shopping period. Macy’s did have a Father Christmas-like figure previous to Edgar’s Santa, but Edgar’s version more closely resembled the description in Clement Moore’s increasingly popular Christmas poem, known colloquially as The Night Before Christmas. From those humble beginnings, Santa became an important part of the marketing scheme for all department stores, his arrival a cause for celebration and the unofficial opening of the Christmas shopping season. He has arrived ever earlier, and with ever more dramatic entrances, ever since. Santa’s reindeer – which first appeared in Moore’s poem – is usually along for the ride.