Germans began decorating Christmas trees with candles as far back as the 1700s, but people wouldn"t begin stringing trees with electric lights until the late 1800s. Thomas Edison created the first practical incandescent lights and used them to decorate his Menlo Park laboratory for Christmas in 1880. Then three years later, the vice president of Edison"s company, Edward H. Johnson, had Christmas tree bulbs especially made, which he used to decorate the tree in his New York City home. Nevertheless, electric lights didn’t catch on as a holiday decoration among the general public until 1895, when President Grover Cleveland asked that the White House Christmas tree be illuminated by hundreds of multicolored electric bulbs.
Merry and bright
Today in History
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Celebrating whales—and a whale of a tale
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Cosplay strongly encouraged
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Presidents Day
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Hohenzollern Castle near Stuttgart, Germany
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New York City skyline
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National Mushroom Month
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Autumn comes to Old Town
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Desert rose of Qatar
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Brain coral
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Northern coast of Colombia
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Womens History Month
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The village of Castelluccio above the Piano Grande, Umbria, Italy
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Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel and the Louvre Pyramid
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Celebrating World Water Day
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Happy New Year! (Again!)
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75th anniversary of the Spruce Goose
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A century since Tut s tomb was discovered
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Celebrating the UN’s International Day of Families
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White Desert National Park, Egypt
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On the lookout for Sheep-Cote Clod
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Buddha in the roots of a tree, Ayutthaya, Thailand
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Rumelihisarı in Istanbul, Türkiye
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International Beaver Day
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Guanahacabibes National Park, Cuba
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Rooftops in the walled city of Urbino, Italy
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Capitol Reef National Park, Utah
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Labor Day
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Earth Day
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Pretty in pink, and purple, and red…
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Celebrating Norwegian Constitution Day