Christmas Tree Fun Facts

• Christmas trees remove dust and pollen from the air and take approximately seven years to mature.
• During the years from 1887 to 1933, a fishing schooner called the 'Christmas Ship' used to sell spruce trees from Michigan to Chicagoans.
• Evergreen trees were used to celebrate the onset of winter, even before the birth of Christ.
• Christmas tree was decorated for the first time in Riga (Latvia), in the year 1510.
• In 1963, the National Christmas Tree was not lighted until December 22nd, because the national 30-day period of mourning following the assassination of President Kennedy stretched on till that day.
• In the year 1979, only the top of the National Christmas Tree was lighted in the US, in the honor of the American hostages in Iran.
• Large stores started putting up illuminated Christmas trees in the year 1900 only.
• Mark Carr of New York started first Christmas tree retail lot in the United States, in 1851.
• National Christmas Tree Association gives a Christmas tree to the President and first family of US every year.
• National Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony on the White House was started by President Coolidge in 1923.
• Scotch pine, Douglas fir, Noble fir, Fraser fir, Virginia pine, Balsam fir and White pine are the most popular Christmas trees.
• Teddy Roosevelt had banned the Christmas tree from the White House because of environmental reasons.
• The commercial sale of Christmas trees started in the United States around the year 1850.
• The first Christmas tree was placed in the White House in 1856, by the 14th President of the United States, Franklin Pierce.
• The tradition of an official Chicago Christmas tree dates back to 1913, when the first official tree was lit by Mayor Carter H. Harrison in Grant Park.
• The tradition of using small candles to light a Christmas tree dates back to the mid-17th century.
• There are more than 21,000 growers of Christmas tree and more than 12,000 cut-your-own-tree farms in the US.