The Glessner House Christmas Tree

John and Frances (Macbeth) Glessner, both born in the 1840s, would have seen the tradition of a Christmas tree evolve during their childhood. Virtually unknown outside of Germany until Queen Victoria and Prince Albert introduced the custom to Great Britain that decade, Christmas trees quickly started to appear in American homes. Frances Glessner’s journal provides interesting information about the Christmas trees that would have been displayed at 1800 S. Prairie Avenue, although the references are usually brief, as the tree was typically in place for less than 48 hours.

The Glessners moved into their new home on December 1, 1887. The first Christmas tree was decorated on Christmas Day, Frances Glessner noting simply “the children are today trimming a Xmas tree in the school room.” (Most of the journal entry describes the gifts given and received).

George Glessner, a talented amateur photographer, documented the tree in 1888. Frances Glessner wrote, “We all hung up our stockings and trimmed our pretty little tree just three feet high. It stands on the table in the school room.” As was typical for the period, trees were small and were placed on a table. The photograph shows the variety of decorations used including candles, a foil-paper covered cardboard bird at the top, tinsel, three types of garlands (tinsel, glass beads, and popcorn), blown-glass ornaments, and miniature drums.

The year 1898 was special as both of the Glessners’ children had married that year, so were celebrating their first Christmas in their own homes – apartments located in a large building on the 2000 block of South Indiana Avenue. George and Frances each received some of the ornaments that they had used to decorate the school room tree:

“John and I went over towards noon to call on the young people. We found them all very happy – the baby sleeping soundly. A tiny tree was decorated with balls and ornaments from the first tree George ever had and which have been used every Christmas since.”

Among the ornaments given to George and his wife Alice, was a special glass piece known as a kugel. Unlike the thin-walled glass ornaments that became popular later on, kugels were heavy glass ornaments usually lined with silver, which gave the glass a deep rich color. The ornament was purchased by the Glessners during their visit to the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia during the summer of 1876. It is painted with simple gold decoration, and features the dates of 1776 and 1876, denoting the centennial of the United States. The kugel was passed down through several generations of George’s family, before being returned to Glessner house in 2018. It is the only original family ornament in the collection today.

With the Glessner children married and away from home, Frances Glessner usually selected friends – often the age of her children – to decorate the Christmas tree. Favorites included the architect Hermann von Holst, whom the Glessners unofficially “adopted” as a young adult after his parents returned to Germany; he always spent the holiday with the Glessners. In 1900, Hermann “trimmed our Christmas tree and staid all night to see the fun in the morning.” After he married, his wife Lucy joined in the annual tradition. Other favorites to assist with the tree trimming included the principal harpist of the Chicago Symphony, Enrico Tramonti, and his wife Juliette. The Glessners’ grandchildren start participating in the decorating activities by 1905.

The Glessners had switched to a larger tree by 1902, when Frances Glessner wrote in her journal, “the children all came home Christmas morning at ten o’clock when we lighted the tree which stood in the hall. All of the family and household were in the hall.” The tree was still lit with candles at this point, so the lighting was a major part of the celebration with everyone gathered to observe the tree briefly illuminated with its lit candles (perhaps 15-20 minutes) before the candles were extinguished.

Electric lights were first incorporated on the Glessner Christmas tree in 1911, and the display was quite elaborate. Few people had electric lights at this time, the first strings being introduced by General Electric in 1903, although Frances Glessner noted seeing individual electric lights on the tree of a friend in 1900. Strings of lights were initially quite expensive, and, as few people had electric outlets, were designed to screw into a light bulb socket of a nearby wall sconce or chandelier.

The festivities around the Christmas tree for 1911 began with the arrival of the fresh tree from The Rocks, the Glessners’ summer estate in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. John Glessner noted that five trees were delivered for use in their home, and the homes of their son George, daughter Frances, sisters-in-law Helen and Anna (who shared an apartment), and neighbors James and Narcissa Thorne (later known for her meticulous Thorne Rooms, on permanent display at the Art Institute).

Three of the trees from The Rocks were delivered to these Prairie Avenue homes: (L-R) James and Narcissa Thorne (1708), George and Alice Glessner (1706), and Blewett and Frances Lee (1700).

John Glessner wrote that an electrician with International Harvester was recruited for the special electric light display: 

“Cheney the electrician spent all of Saturday and Sunday over our Christmas tree and it was wonderfully pretty. The tree came from The Rocks and was placed in an alcove made of curtains in the main hall, had many and various colored lights that “flashed” and twinkled; there were spotlights of various colors thrown on it and snow fell from the canopy over it.

“It was lighted first at 9 pm for our company at Sunday (Christmas Eve) supper – 19 in all at the table, and again at 10 o’clock on Christmas morning for the benefit of the children and our guests and servants – 36 or 37 in all, so that the tree blazed for about two hours on Sunday night and about two hours on Monday morning and then was taken down. It had its day and was no more. And before evening we were back to the original condition with only the memory.”

Despite the elaborate preparations for the tree, it was not photographed, but we know what the bulbs on the tree would have looked like. The earliest bulbs were pear-shaped, like early Edison bulbs, but in 1910 General Electric switched to a round bulb with a small “exhaust tip” at the end. This shape was used until 1919, when the cone shape resembling a flame was adopted; this remained the standard version until the 1970s and is now popular again as a “vintage style” bulb. The photos below show a light kit produced by General Electric in 1910. (To learn more about the history of electric Christmas tree lights, visit Old Christmas Tree Lights, from which the images below were retrieved.)

In 1978, Frances Glessner Lee’s two surviving children, John Glessner Lee and Martha Lee Batchelder, donated The Rocks Estate to the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests, with the stipulation that a crop always be grown in the fields. Christmas trees were the chosen crop, and for more than three decades, a tree was shipped from The Rocks each year to decorate the main hall at Glessner House. That tradition ended in 2019, when the building housing the shipping operation burned to the ground; since that time a tree has been sourced locally.

In order to tell the full story of Christmas at the house, two trees are decorated each year. A small three-foot tree sits on the table in the schoolroom – this is where the original kugel is hung. A larger tree is displayed in the main hall. There are no electric lights on either tree, interpreting the period prior to the grand electric light display of 1911.

Chicago's Christmas Tree - 1915

Last week, we examined the history of Chicago’s first municipal Christmas tree in 1913.  This week, we look at the tree erected in 1915 – the only one specifically mentioned in the Glessner journal.

In late December 1915, John Glessner made the following entry:

“The municipal Christmas tree continues beautiful.  It bears no lights but is adorned with glass jewels that are said to have been on the jewel tower at the San Francisco fair, and is lighted by search lights of various colors, across the street and elsewhere.  Hundreds of people stand about on Michigan Avenue in the evenings to see it.”

THE TOWER OF JEWELS

The Panama-Pacific International Exposition was held in San Francisco from February 20 through December 4, 1915.  Organized to commemorate the completion of the Panama Canal, San Francisco was anxious to host the world’s fair to show how it had recovered from the devastating earthquake of 1906.

The most impressive structure on the fairgrounds was the Tower of Jewels which, at 435 feet, towered over the other buildings at the fair, and could be seen for miles.  The name of the tower came from the 102,000 faceted cut glass “jewels” that adorned the surface of the building.  The jewels, known as “Novagems” were created by Walter Ryan and made in Bohemia in a variety of colors and sizes ranging from ¾” to 2” in diameter.  Each individual jewel was mounted to the building with a small brass hanger that included a small mirror behind to enhance the intensity of the light as it passed through the jewel.  The jewels hung free on their hangers and would move in the breeze creating spectacular effects as they reflected the sunlight.  In the evening, 54 searchlights were directed toward the tower, creating a similar impression. 

In his 1921 history of the exposition, Frank Morton Todd noted an occasional event known as “Burning the Tower”:

“Concealed ruby lights, and pans of red fire behind the colonnades on the different galleries, seemed to turn the whole gigantic structure into a pyramid of incandescent metal, glowing toward white heat and about to melt.  From the great vaulted base to the top of the sphere, it had the unstable effulgence of a charge in a furnace, and yet it did not melt, however much you expected it to, but stood and burned like some sentient thing doomed to eternal torment.”

Novagems were produced in eight colors

Jewels were sold as souvenirs during the fair and were also made into pins, cufflinks, and spoons.   At the close of the fair the actual jewels from the tower were sold for $1 each. 

THE JEWELS COME TO CHICAGO

Walter Ryan brought 4,000 of the jewels to Chicago for use on the municipal Christmas tree, sponsored by the Chicago Examiner newspaper.  They were suspended from the boughs of the tree and clustered to form the huge Star of Bethlehem at the top.  Smaller jewel-encrusted stars were placed on the 30-foot trees which surrounded the base of the main Christmas tree. 

Mayor Thompson

Located in Grant Park at Congress Street, the tree was lit at 4:45pm on Christmas Eve. Mayor William Hale Thompson pressed the electric button which turned on the hundred searchlights directed toward the 90-foot fir tree.   Two huge searchlights each were mounted to the Auditorium and Congress hotels, while dozens of smaller lights in various colors were set about the park.

Forty lights set beneath the tree lit the entire height with colors changing from red to green to blue to purple and back to red again.  As John Glessner noted, there were no lights on the tree itself, but it was constantly changing color with the searchlights.

THE TREE LIGHTING CEREMONY

The festivities began with the mayor’s procession leaving City Hall and heading east on Randolph Street and then south on Michigan Avenue to Congress Street.  Leading the procession was the First regiment of cavalry and eight trumpeters from the Illinois National Guard.  Two companies of militia from the First and Seventh regiments formed a lane from Congress Street to the platform and saluted the mayor and his party as they passed. 

Following the mayor’s remarks and lighting of the tree, the huge crowd was treated to a musical program provided by various groups including the Chicago Band Association, the Apollo Musical Club, the Haydn Choral Society, the Chicago Grand Opera Company, and the Paulist Choir, the latter singing from the balcony of the Auditorium Hotel while being illuminated by twenty searchlights.

Musical selections included Wagner’s “The March of the Holy Grail,” Gounod-Buck’s “Nazareth,” and Chadwick-Noel’s “Allelujah Chorus.”  The crowd joined in the singing of Gounod’s “Peace on Earth,” “O Come, All Ye Faithful,” “Silent Night,” “Years of Peace,” and “The Star Spangled Banner.”  The program closed with the combined musical groups singing Handel’s “Hallelujah Chorus.”

The tree remained in place until New Year’s Day.  It must have been a magnificent sight to see the richly colored jewels swaying and sparkling in the light.  And one cannot help but wonder what became of the 4,000 jewels when the tree was finally dismantled.  Perhaps they were picked up or sold as souvenirs and some may still survive to this day, buried in the bottom of a drawer or maybe even hung on a Christmas tree in someone’s home.  

The Rocks Estate

The Rocks Estate, located in the White Mountains in northern New Hampshire, has been an important part of the lives of generations of the Glessner family since 1883.  Approximately 1,300 acres of the estate was donated to the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forest in 1978, and today, thousands of visitors each year come to the site to hike, explore nature, select the perfect Christmas tree, and much more.  The Rocks Estate recently earned its seal of approval from Certified Grand Adventures as detailed in the article below, which appeared in the New Hampshire Union Leader on February 12, 2013.

ROCKS ESTATE:  GRAND CERTIFIED ADVENTURE

Touted: The designation means the estate has a unique flavor for tourists

By Sara Young-Knox

Bethlehem – The Rocks Estate, a North Country destination for outdoor family activities and environmental education, has received the seal of approval from Certified Grand Adventures.

The 1,400-acre Rocks Estate, known for its Christmas tree farm and spring maple syrup tours, is home to the North Country Conservation and Education Center for the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests.

In the winter, The Rocks Estate partners with another certified experience – Muddy Paw Sled Dog Kennel of Jefferson offers dog sled rides at The Rocks.

The Rocks joins 14 other Certified Grand Adventures of northern New Hampshire.  To become certified, an experience needs to be:  different, better, first or bigger than other adventures within easy driving distance for people from Boston and Montreal.  They also must have a 3-to-1 ratio of positive comments on web feedback sites, be interactive, endorsed by two regional and one national media outlet, open a minimum of 60 days a year, and clearly communicate safety guidelines.

Pam Sullivan, marketing coordinator for New Hampshire Grand, said the Bethlehem landmark was a natural fit. 

“The Rocks has been described as a modern-day Norman Rockwell Christmas scene, complete with the jingling bells of their horse-drawn wagon rides and roasted marshmallows at the fire pit.”

The Rocks Estate was the seasonal home of the Glessner family, who escaped the heat and stench of summer in Chicago to enjoy the mountain air.  John Jacob and Frances Glessner purchased a 100-acre farm in 1882, constructing the 19-room mansion known then as the Big House in 1883.  That house is gone, but many of the buildings they added remain, and those buildings, and the expanded land holdings, were donated to the Forest Society in 1978 by the Glessners’ grandchildren.

What was a wonderful summer place for the Glessner family remains a wonderful year-round destination for all families.  The trail system is open every day and includes the Heritage Trail.  Springtime guests at The Rocks come to the estate to learn about maple sugaring past and present as part of the New Hampshire Maple Experience.

“The most interesting part of this experience for me is when families come for the tours the parents often think that it’s going to be great for the kids – and short enough so that they don’t get too bored,” said Nigel Manley, director of The Rocks.  “However, by the time they’re midway through, the parents are asking more questions than their children, and are fascinated by the time-honored tradition of maple sugaring.”

For more information on The Rocks, visit http://www.therocks.org/.

(Note:  The New Hampshire Maple Experience is housed in a structure [shown at the top of the article] originally built as a combination sawmill and pigpen for the Glessner family in 1906.  It was designed by architect and family friend Hermann V. von Holst.)

The Glessner parlor abuzz with Christmas activity

Christmas is a special time at the museum.  We are fortunate to have extensive documentation on Christmas customs in Frances Glessner’s journal, which allows us to recreate quite accurately how the family would have celebrated the holiday. 

The museum will be decorated for Christmas from Wednesday November 23 through Saturday December 31.  However, the Glessners would be shocked by that!  Unlike today, where the sights and sounds of Christmas appear earlier and earlier each year, in the Glessners’ day, the celebration was confined to just Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  In Frances Glessner’s journal, she discusses the decorating of the house on Christmas Eve, and quite often the tree and other decorations are taken down the evening of Christmas Day.  The tree was usually lit briefly (10-15 minutes) on each day. 

Our newly restored parlor features a number of activities that the family would have undertaken preparing for the decorating and gift-giving parts of the holiday.  The game table is opened in front of the banquet, and several activities are underway.  To the left, popcorn and cranberries are being strung to decorate the tree, and this garland may be found on both the small tree in the schoolroom and the larger tree in the main hall.  After the tree was taken down, the strings of garland would be hung outside on tree branches, so that birds could take advantage of the tasty treats.

At the right side of the table, pomander balls are being prepared using oranges, cloves, and cinnamon.  The balls were meant to be decorative as well as fragrant and they were usually placed in a closet, piled in a bowl, or at Christmas, hung on the tree.  They were decorated with ribbons and often small artificial birds or flowers.  The dried fruits would last for an extended period of time. 

Hand crafted items were popular Christmas gifts and several pieces are represented.  The black wool muffler represents a similar piece Fanny once knit and presented to her father as a Christmas gift.  The small red velvet pillow is in the process of having a vintage lace panel reading “Merry Christmas, Happy New Year” attached.

An interesting item, seen in the foreground of the photo, is the Glessners’ “literary salad.”  This parlor game was a popular activity for Victorian-era teenagers.  The host or hostess prepared the “salad” ahead of time by writing a selection of literary quotations on paper and then gluing them to green tissue paper “lettuce leaves.”  Each guest, on being served “salad,” read the quotation aloud and guessed at the author’s name.

Frances Glessner, her two sisters Helen and Anna, and her daughter Fanny, were all extremely talented needle workers, and hand-embroidered items would have been popular gifts from the women.  On the banquette, an embroidered panel of flowers is underway, sitting next to a red work bag.  Frances Glessner had many of these bags, used to hold fabric, needles, thread and other items for her embroidery work.  She also frequently made the bags and gave them as gifts.

To the left in the above photo is the Christmas 1890 issue of Ladies Home Journal.  Periodicals such as this were widely read by women who relied on them to provide useful information on the latest trends in gift giving and decorating. 

Special Christmas-themed tours of both Glessner and Clarke House Museum will be offered on Saturday December 10 and Sunday December 11, with tours at 5:30, 6:00, and 6:30pm.   Learn more about these and other Christmas customs, and conclude the tour with refreshments at the nearby landmark Wheeler Mansion.  Call 312.326.1480 for more information or to make reservations.

The Rocks Estate

In August 1883, John and Frances Glessner and their children George and Fanny moved into their new summer home, which they called the “Big House” at their estate “The Rocks” in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, mid-way between Littleton and Bethlehem.  The Glessners had first considered the White Mountains for their summer home at the suggestion of George’s doctor, who indicated that George might experience significant relief from his severe hayfever by leaving Chicago and traveling to this part of the country.  When George first visited the White Mountains in 1878, the relief was dramatic and immediate, so the Glessners opted to make the locale their annual destination.  The Glessners continued to make The Rocks their home every summer until their deaths in the 1930s, and both George and Fanny later made the estate their permanent home.  A portion of the estate at the western end of the property is still in the possession of two descendants of George Glessner, making six generations of the family to call The Rocks home. 

In 1977, two of the Glessners grandchildren, John Glessner Lee and Martha Lee Batchelder, made the decision to donate the majority of the property (1333 of the approximate 2000 acres assembled by their grandparents) to the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests.  The Society had been formed in 1901 to acquire and protect forested lands throughout the state in response to widespread clear-cutting being undertaken by farmers.  John Glessner was a strong supporter of the Society and joined in 1903, just two years after it was founded, so it was a very appropriate choice for the grandchildren to present the organization with The Rocks property.  The estate includes numerous original buildings constructed by the Glessners from the 1880s through the 1910s designed by Isaac Scott, Hermann V. von Holst and others, as well as more than 500 species of trees and other plants. 

The Rocks Estate is supported in large part today by its use as a Christmas tree farm, which satisfies one of the stipulations of the gift requiring the Society to keep an active crop growing on the estate at all times.   Open to the public year round, the estate also offers a number of hiking trails and other activities which help visitors to explore the vast beauty of the property.  Visit http://www.therocks.org/ for more information.

At the museum, we carry on a Glessner family tradition begun more than a century ago by shipping a Christmas tree from The Rocks every year.  The Glessners originally used small table-top trees (their 1888 tree is pictured above), but by the early 1900s adopted the custom of a larger tree which they displayed in the main hall, where the museum places the tree each year.   Click on the link below to see the tree selected for this year’s celebration:

http://www.youtube.com/user/TheRocksEstate#p/u/0/UC180Aapox0

Glessner and Clarke House Museums will be decorated for Christmas from Wednesday November 23^rd through Saturday December 31^st.  A special part of the holiday tradition at the museums is our annual Candlelight Tours, scheduled this year for Saturday December 10 and Sunday December 11.  During these special tours, attendees will learn about Christmas traditions of the mid- to late-19^th century and see both houses decorated in historically appropriate fashion.  Afterwards, participants are invited to the nearby Wheeler Mansion for refreshments.  For more information, visit http://www.glessnerhouse.org/Events.htm , or call 312-326-1480 to make reservations.