When The Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Came From Danville

 

The 2014 Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Came From Danville, Montour County Pa

First Christmas Tree at Rockefeller Center

On Christmas Eve, 1931, at the height of the Great Depression, workers at the Rockefeller Center construction site decided to pool their money together to buy a Christmas tree to lift their spirits. It was a 20-foot balsam fir that they decorated with handmade garland and strings of cranberries from their families. The men lined up at the tree to receive their paychecks.

1933 - The First Tree Lighting At Rockefeller Center

Two years later in 1933, a Rockefeller Center publicist decided to make the tree an annual tradition, and they held the first official lighting ceremony with a 50-foot tree. In 1936, they put up two trees to mark the opening of the skating rink and also held an ice skating competition.

1951

The tree is typically a Norway Spruce at least 60 feet tall, but it can't be wider than 110 feet because of limitations set by the width of New York City streets. 

Setting up the tree, 1946

The tree is typically transported using a crane and a custom telescoping trailer.  In 1977, the tree was  transported  down the Hudson River from Stony Point on a barge. In 1998, it received royal treatment and was flown in from Richfield, Ohio on the world’s largest transport plane.

The Gardens Division Manager, or head gardener at  Rockefeller Center, takes a helicopter to scout Pennsylvania, Connecticuit, Vermont, Ohio, and even Canada, for the perfect tree, b but individuals may also submit their tree for consideration,  through the website:

https://www.rockefellercenter.com/contact/submit-your-tree/

In 2014, an 85-foot-tall Norway Spruce was found at the home of Dan Sigafoos and Rachel Drosdick-Sigafoos,  in Danville, PA.

Crews cut down the 26,000 pound tree  then it was loaded on a flatbed truck to make the trek to Manhattan.

The tree was first Rockefeller tree to be  recycled was in 1971.  It was turned into 30 three-bushel bags of mulch for the nature trails of upper Manhattan.  For years, the  mulch was 

 Boy Scouts of America, and   The trunk was sent to the U.S. Equestrian Team Olympic Training Center to be used as obstacles for the horses. 

"Each year since 2007, lumber milled from the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree has been used to help a family build their Habitat home. Tishman Speyer, the owner and operator of Rockefeller Center, generously donates that lumber to Habitat. Company staff members then build alongside a family, turning a Christmas tradition celebrated by millions into a place for smaller, but no less joyous, celebrations."

1930s 

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The lighting of the tree was first televised in 1951, on the Kate Smith show.

Note - the first public Christmas tree was actually in Madison Square Garden, in 1912. In a time when Christmas trees were a considerable expense, and beyond the means of many families, the public tree was meant for all to enjoy

In 1942, Rockefeller Center erected three small trees, instead of one large one, which were all decorated in red, white and blue colors. However, the trees remained unlit due to blackout regulations, and it stayed that way for each Rockefeller Center Christmas tree until after the war.

The 1949 Rockefeller tree was 75 feet tall, spray-painted silver and covered in 7,500 pastel-colored lights. The walkway leading to the tree was decorated with 576 illuminated plastic snowflakes that created a hypnotic effect.

1956

1,200 Christmas bells and 4,000 lights decorated the tree in 1965