Holiday Lights

The Peterborough Holiday Tree Lighting celebration on December 7 is a part of a long tradition of Peterborough holiday festivities. This photograph shows the town’s holiday tree on December 24, 1915. Three years earlier the townspeople inaugurated a town wide holiday celebration with a tree and caroling.

Peterborough photographer Ernest Townsend made this photograph and a companion photo showing the tree lit on Christmas Eve. The tree was decorated with strands of lights, popcorn garlands, and “icicles.” The first Christmas lights were developed by Thomas Edison and made their debut in the early 1890’s. The icicles were made from metal foil and were available commercially. The tree was placed in front of the Phoenix Mill on the lot that is now occupied by the Monadnock Center (which was not constructed on the lot until 1917).