Dec 24, 2015

Article by Jacques Kelly

Baltimore Christmas traditions are not all about having sauerkraut with turkey, or the lights on 34th Street. There’s far more than that.

Before there was Amazon Prime, Baltimoreans shopped for their gifts at Howard and Lexington streets. In the 1920s the city estimated that 90,000 people crossed this intersection during a day. Many carried a Christmas tree home on a streetcar. There was also a large selection of live trees for sale at the old Memorial Stadium on 33rd Street.

Before the suburbs flocked to Hampden for decorations and shopping, city folk flocked to the suburbs for celebrations. The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad also had a ceremony to light a decorated holly tree in Cecil County. Trains left Camden Station for a night ride to the tree. The B&O’s glee club sang carols. Baltimore neighborhood bakers turned out cookies for those who did not do their own cookie making.

Of course, some traditions carry on — Santas in local stores, those 34th Street lights, and the Constellation in lights at the Inner Harbor.

: The Constellation is seen adorned with holiday lights on Christmas Eve in 1980. (Richard Childress/Baltimore Sun)

: Santa interacts with a little girl in 1981. (George Cook/Baltimore Sun)

: This is a Polish Christmas In Baltimore in 1950. (A. Aubrey Bodine/Baltimore Sun)

: Listening to the tintinnabulation of the bells on the musical Christmas tree at the Enoch Pratt Library in 1950 are (from left) Roddy Freeman, 2; Thomas Beach, 8, and Carole Ann Beach, 9. (William Klender/Baltimore Sun)

: A woman decorates her Highlandtown window for Christmas in 1972. (Lloyd Pearson/Baltimore Sun)

: Santa Claus (Albert Magowski), waves from mail truck in front of the City Hall. (Walter McCardell/Baltimore Sun)

: Immense mobs converge at the intersection of Lexington and Howard Streets amidst the blare of horns, shouts of pseudo Santas and delighted squeals of misinformed juveniles in 1947. (Robert Mottar/Baltimore Sun)

: Eileen Gray looks at a holiday window display in downtown in 1939. (Baltimore Sun)

: Christmas trees line Eutaw street south of Lexington in 1921. When parking was less of a problem greenery could be sold in the street nearly out to the streetcar tracks. (Baltimore Sun)

: J. Benjamin Ayres, left, and H.G. Murray repair toys at the Good Will Industries shop in Baltimore in 1933. (A. Aubrey Bodine/Baltimore Sun)

: Christmas packages are sorted at the Parcel Post Station at Mount Royal and St. Paul Streets in 1942. (A. Aubrey Bodine/Baltimore Sun)

: Christmas lights encompass the entire 700 block of 34th St in 1991. (Gene Sweeney Jr./Baltimore Sun)

: Santa Clause sneaks in under a television antenna for the annual Christmas visit to the 700 block of Mansfield road in 1971. (Lloyd Pearson/Baltimore Sun)

: Children wait for Santa’s arrival at St. John’s Nursery in Linthicum in 1988. (Perry Thorsvik/Baltimore Sun)

: Customers line up to cash Christmas checks at Provident Savings Bank in Baltimore in 1950. (William Klender/Baltimore Sun)

: Frosty drags a Christmas tree during a fundraiser for the Medical Eye Bank in 1989. (Irving H. Phillips, Jr./Baltimore Sun)

: Boats strut their stuff around city dock during the annual parade of lights in downtown Annapolis in 1988. (Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun)

: Christopher Davis, 2-1/2, of Baltimore was reluctant to tell Santa Claus his “wants” for Christmas at Villa Julie Christmas party in 1983. (Lloyd Pearson/Baltimore Sun)

: Baltimore was glistening but it was the sheen of rain-slicked streets, not the snowy-gleam of a wintry landscape, as this view of Park Avenue downtown shows. Elsewhere in the country people have already begun digging out, but weather here remains a bit more seasonal with the city high yesterday at 52 degrees. Sunny skies are predicted today and tomorrow, with daytime highs in the 50s. (Irving H. Phillips, Jr./Baltimore Sun)

: City Hall Plaza is decked out in its holiday finery in 1982. (George Cook/Baltimore Sun)

: From the masts of the U.S. Frigate Constellation to the pavilions of Harborplace and the downtown waterfront were adorned with Christmas finery in 1982. For this couple taking a break from holiday shopping, a promenade at the Pratt Street pavilion offered the best view. (Paul Hutchins/Baltimore Sun)

: Joe and Donna Roberts, at the time a newly married Timonium couple, cut down a tree at the Locksley Farm in Jacksonville, on a cold winter’s afternoon in December 1981, which will mark their first Christmas as a married couple. (Jed Kirschbaum/Baltimore Sun)

: Mary Ellen Schaefer decorated her house for Christmas in 1981 with hand-crafted items including dolls, dried flowers and cloth wall hangings. (Nora Gruner/Baltimore Sun)

: Meeting Santa didn’t exactly make one-year-old Bobby Blair’s day in December 1980. Although, the loud one’s brother, Jerry Blair, 3, was amused. (Jed Kirschbaum/Baltimore Sun)

: Traffic was light on Lexington Mall in 1979 but many stores were packed with bargain hunters looking for Christmas tree ornaments, gift wrap and other holiday paraphernalia as merchants held their traditional closeout sales on Christmas merchandise. (Lloyd Pearson/Baltimore Sun)

: Christmas tree sales are booming these days and the brisk business at this stand, where customers cars were lined up on Ritchie Highway was similar to the turnover experienced by many dealers. Some local merchants say that sales are so good that they will be sold out by the end of this week. People have been buying trees earlier this year than last, possibly motivated by reports of tree shortages. Sellers say this year’s supply is down 20 percent from last year. (Lloyd Pearson/Baltimore Sun)

: Holiday lights adorn trees at Valley View Farms in Cockeysville in 1977. (Joseph DiPaola/Baltimore Sun)

: Charmaine Simms, 2, got a little frightened by a heavy Ho! Ho! Ho! from Santa Claus at the Sears department store on North Avenue in 1976. (Lloyd Pearson/Baltimore Sun)

: Santa John F. Brown Howard speaks with Nicholas Gradarz of Cockeysville, Maryland at the Lexington Street Mall during The City Downtown Christmas Program in 1975. (Joseph A. DiPaola/Baltimore Sun)

: McDonogh School boys file into the chapel to participate in the school’s Christmas program in 1974. (Clarence B. Garrett/Baltimore Sun)

: The Hochschild’s display showing the good old days delighted children of all ages in 1973. (Baltimore Sun)

: One-year-old Trey Drury gets a look at Santa’s workshop in Center Plaza by Mayor William Donald Schaefer in 1972. The centerpiece of Baltimore Forward Thrust’s downtown Christmas program was built by elves from the city’s Public Works Department. (William LaForce, Jr./Baltimore Sun)

: Mollie Miller displays some of her Christmas card on her desk in her Woodlawn office in 1972. (Paul Hutchins/Baltimore Sun)

: A Christmas tree is seen in the great hall of Hampton House in 1971. (Richard Childress/Baltimore Sun)

: Passengers check in for flights at Friendship Airport two days before Christmas in 1971. The busiest pre-Christmas time at the airport, according to past experience, are the two days preceding the holiday. Most of the additional planes are scheduled then and long queues form. Similar sights can be seen at Greyhound and Trailways stations and at Baltimore’s Pennsylvania station as the season of goodwill brings some visitors with gifts to the city and takes others away. (Richard Childress/Baltimore Sun)

: Children of 414 Association have a preview look at a Christmas Garden that will open to public on Christmas day in 1956. (Albert D. Cochran/Baltimore Sun)

: An unusual hand blown figure with a face, front, and back is seen on the Bodine Christmas tree in 1963. (A Aubrey Bodine/Baltimore Sun)

: Marion Moraski, Joseph Bocta, August Gribben and Frederick Dunn pack baskets for needy families in 1963 at Southwestern District police headquarters. (William LaForce, Jr/Baltimore Sun)

: Creston “Doc” Woingust, dressed as one of Santa’s helpers, and patrolman Alfred C. Smith, give stockings to a brother and sister, Everett, 8, and Wanda Loggins, 7, at the 1963 Western District Christmas party that was held at the old Royal Theater on Pennsylvania Avenue. (William l Laforce Jr./Baltimore Sun)

: Social Security workers decorate a Christmas tree and a Hanukkah bush during traditional Christian and Jewish holiday seasons in 1962. From left are the Misses Mary Zimnawoda, Bonnie Worth and Mary Erisini and Mrs. Bryna Dannenberg. (Edward Nolan/Baltimore Sun)

: A crowd enjoys the Christmas train garden at the Glen Avenue Fire House at Cross Country boulevard and Glen avenue in 1957. (Albert D. Cochran/Baltimore Sun)

: Christmas packages are sorted at the Post Office in Baltimore in 1956. (Frank Gardina/Baltimore Sun)

: In 1953, a white Christmas didn’t seem very likely so first-grade pupils at the Northwood Elementary School did some improvising. Here Billy Black, Judy Stryker and Linda Dave put the finishing touches to a fat snowman they built in a hallway of the school. Made of cotton, he boasts a carrot nose, hat and scarf. (Baltimore Sun)

: This is a Polish Christmas In Baltimore in 1950. (A. Aubrey Bodine/Baltimore Sun)

: This is a Polish Christmas In Baltimore in 1950. (A. Aubrey Bodine/Baltimore Sun)

: Christmas greenery was sold from makeshift stalls downtown in the early 1900’s. The scene is the west side of Eutaw street , just south of Lexington street. (Baltimore Sun)

: The decorated streets and homes of Hampden, seen here in 1991, have for years become something of a tourist destination during the holiday season. (Gene Sweeney Jr./ Baltimore Sun)

: Mrs. Elsie Kinlein of 6707 Loch Raven Boulevard, combined lighted trees and manger scene to achieve a traditional display similar to those to be seen at many churches in the greater Baltimore area in 1966. (A Aubrey Bodine/Baltimore Sun)

Memories of Christmas past

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