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Grandpa didn't date these last two Christmas tree pics, so I'm a little hesitant to call this 1916. It is different from all the previous years' displays though. This one has Santas on the chimneys of both houses.It's obvious Grandpa really enjoyed putting these displays together each Christmas. That got passed on to my dad. I remember him and Tom putting a lot of effort our displays - drilling holes to add Christmas lights inside each building; running gobs of wiring beneath the platform; and setting up an "O" scale electric train that you could actually "drive" with a control box. That "O" scale train was bigger than the "HO" scale trains that most everyone else had in the 50's and 60's.
3 comments:
There was a time, probably from around the turn of the century up into the 1940s that a number of men liked to tinker and build these elaborate Christmas yards, sort of an unofficial competition, and they would invite people to come in and see the displays. I recall, probably around 1939-40, being taken up outside steps to a room over a garage to see a big Christmas yard, it even had an airplane circling above it. I don't know whose it was. I also remember seeing a yard set up at your house, maybe out in Lenhartsville, and I believe it had this very fence around it.
Janet
the fencing on the right-hand side (darker colored) might have found its way to Lenhartsville. i don't recall ever seeing the lighter-colored fencing on the left.
my dad and Tom used to spend a lot of time on these Christmas set-ups at Lenhartsville. except i don't think we set the Christams tree up in the display. but i was young. i'll have to ask Tom sometime.
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