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The colorized Christmas tree is back, 107 years after its debut in Madison Square. Happy holidays from Shorpy!
New York, December 1913. "Christmas tree, Madison Square." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Bain News Service. View full size.
I want to wish all Shorpyites, both regular commenters and non-regular commenters alike, the happiest of holiday seasons this year. 2020 has been terrible, on almost every level a year can be terrible, and a little peace and joy over the next week shouldn't be too much to ask. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas yesterday with however many people you're allowed to have at your house. I hope the food was good, the conversation was lively, and the feelings warm.
Come on 2021...
After 3am realized I didn't get my daily dose of SHORPY and will complete reading and commenting around 4:50 am. Looking forward to the New Year edition to cap off another year of David's, tt's and other's massive and Artful contributions stimulating our family's memories and new insights as to our collective history as ALL our folks arrived as immigrants some as slaves or indentured workers and others stowaways or sailors and crew members jumping ship. The rest of our people we see populating SHORPY'S cities, towns and farms arrived on our shores in a wide range of financial status. However difficult it probably was for most of our descendants it's amazing how quickly, often in only one generation the new language and customs morphed into the American citizens we compare Shorpy's folks to. I as I begin my 89th year I'm the only first generation Norwegian / American male left in my NYC clan. Although l had a pleasant holiday I sorely miss our Scandinavian main roast pork meal on Xmas Eve with all the varied and distinctive cookies and other baked cakes that were baked during the week before and the house smelled like Xmas the whole tantalizing time. One of my dad's insistence that mom wasn't to speak to my sister and me in Norsk - slid into our having the American turkey and apple cyder on Xmas - wasn't that cool !
Thanks to Dave and all who contribute. It's been a great trip of learning, from Mr. Higginbotham's life story to "flange bearing frogs". I thought the little amphibians were doing some heavy lifting!
Wishing all a better 2021.
Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Season's Greetings, Blessed Yule, and all other wishes to everyone here. May your tables be filled with good food and good conversation. See you in 2020.
I passed some very pleasant time in a Canadian Tire store near Toronto on Christmas Eve yesterday, an hour before closing, relaxed and unharried, with a brother-in-law and nephew, trying to figure out all the different kinds of tree lights available, to make a totally unnecessary purchase, upon command of a family member higher up than us on the boss scale. And the result was nowhere near as nice as this Madison Square tree.
Merry Christmas and best of the season to Dave and tterrace and all my Shopry comrades at this bright and festive time of year.
Merry Christmas to all out there in Shorpyland - everyone reading, everyone posting and especially to Dave and the Shorpy crew. Keep those great pics coming! Now, off to the Office Party!
Many thanks for the photos on this site. My father was born in northeastern Alabama around the time of Shorpy, and this alone makes the site worthwhile. To see and read about those times is very revealing. But the site is much more! Just the railroad photos alone are fantastic. Please know that you are appreciated, and Happy New Year to Shorpyland!
Merry Christmas Dave to you and all at Shorpy, another fine year and looking forward to 2017.
Thank you all at Shorpy for another great year on one of my favourite sites. Merry Christmas to you all!
Edmund
Thank you so much for the look back and to your members for giving me the chance to compare with current photos on occasion.
Dave, for all of the work you put into Shorpy. Before it came along, I had to be pacified with scanning old pic collections at flea markets. Alas, no more! A very Happy New Year to you and yours!
A bit late for me for the former, but heartfelt wishes to all for the latter
To all at Shorpy, Merry Christmas!
This is a great website and I have told many about it.
This photo reminds me of a print by the American artist Martin Lewis. The picture is titled "The Orator" and is dated 1916. The scene is Madison Square. The three large buildings in the background are still standing and are located around the intersection of 5th Avenue/Madison Square North/W.26th. The photo and the Christmas tree are beautiful!
Merry Christmas to the Shorpy staff, contributors and commenters. Really appreciate all this site offers, it is one of my favorites.
From here in Portland Oregon, to every corner of Shorpyland and to each and every one of its inhabitants -- a Merry Christmas, and a Happy, Peaceful and Healthy New Year.
Thank you, Dave, for giving us a glimpse back into the past. This is one of my favorite sites.
Merry Christmas from Boston, Dave, and many thanks. Shorpy is a fantastic community!
to Dave and all the denizens of Shorpyville.
From England, to every corner of Shorpyland and to each and every one of its inhabitants -- a Merry Christmas, and a Happy, Peaceful and Healthy New Year.
Merry Christmas to Dave and all the Shorpyites from an old coot in Virginia
Thank you, Dave - and thank you to all the folks who manage the site, and thanks to the contributors and commenters.
The world of Shorpy is a terrific gift you share with us, every day.
Dave, the rest of the Shorpy administrators and the great member submitters, Merry Christmas and thank you very much for another year of marvelous photos and replies for my mind and mailed photos for my wall! I wish everyone a grand new year!
Dave, I'm a relative noob, here, and truly enjoy what you do. Merry Christmas from the Left Coast.
Thank you and forward, into the past!
A Merry Christmas to Shorpy and all .....
I echo ALL the sentiments of the commenters before me. So, just a simple Merry Christmas from Minneapolis, MN to Dave, Shorpy and the Shorpyites!!! Wishing you all an awesome 2012.
Merry Christmas to Dave and all the Shorpsters !!
And a Thank You to Dave and the Shorpy Elves for all the work you put into this site.
Another year gone by already!
Thank you for this wonderful site Dave and a special thank you for the photos you posted this year from the glory days of my hometown, Utica, New York. You, Shorpy, and others (especially tterrace) have provided a boundless window into the past and countless hours spent away from the stresses of the day indulging in something that is neither fattening, nor bad for me. Shorpy IS however, highly addictive and wonderfully entertaining.
Best wishes to all in 2012!
Well, my father was born in 1914 and was a wonderful man and father even after getting shot to pieces in Italy with 168th Infantry, 34th Division during WWII. I'm OK with 1913 since my Aunt Helen was born in 1912 and was a most wonderful lady with smiles and laughs and hugs for me when I was a lad. The 1912 & 1914 bracket around 1913 is OK by me.
It's 8:13pm Christmas day out here in Spokane, but I want to wish everyone who visits this wonderful site a very Merry Christmas and all the best for next year. Thanks Dave, and all who make this possible. I learn something new every day from all of you. Thanks.
Even our decorated trees aren't this big!
A very Merry Christmas to all!
To Dave and all my fellow Shorpyites, from the mountains of Pennsylvania, MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!
I'd like to wish everyone at Shorpy a fabulous Christmas and a healthy new year.
To all Shorpyites, Dave, tterrace and Stanton Square: Holiday Greetings from Bull City Boy, Bull Ciry Girl and all the Bull City Young'uns. Have a blessed Christmas
Wishing all at Shorpy a very happy Christmas and seasons greetings to my fellow Shorpyites!
In the background on the right is the Hoffman House located at Broadway and 24th Street. I love how the lights have been colorized!
Let me be the first to wish one and all a glorious Christmas and a bodacious New Year!
I must add my sincere thank you as well Dave, and to those who aid you or add to the information, for the wonderful memories sparked by many photos here, and for the historic value of many of these pictures. Merry Christmas to all!!
Merry Christmas and Thank You!
You've changed my perception of how life was all those decades ago. You've helped me to see those years come alive.
Merry Christmas, and thanks for one of the most incredible sites on the web.
To Dave and staff and everyone else who visits here! Thanks so much for this wonderful site and all the memories!
I join my fellow Shorpyites in thanking you for another year of wonderful photos. May you live long and prosper!
and a big thank you to Dave for the best site on the web and we can't forget tterrace and we hope he doesnt run out of photos.
Ron
Best wishes for 2010.
Wow, what a beautiful tree! Merry Christmas, Dave, and Merry Christmas to all in Shorpyland.
What everyone below said. A big "thank you", Dave, from Las Vegas.
Thank you so much for sharing all these marvelous photos with us.
Merry Christmas to all!
Pictures are, indeed, worth a thousand words and Shorpy is a regular stopover site for me.
Thanks for sharing all this, Dave.
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