Oh Christmas Tree!
By Pat Veltri
It lies in the Raton Public Service pole yard, in pieces and bits, worn out and shabby, and seemingly insignificant. It was once a wooden flag pole with holes strategically placed from top to bottom, and it had an important role in Raton’s Christmases. It was the city’s Christmas “tree” pole that for more than half a century came to life during the Christmas season in the form of a “handmade” Christmas tree, complete with lights and star, in the median between Park and Clark Avenues in downtown Raton. Nowadays, the Christmas “tree” pole is retired and visitors and residents enjoy a live Christmas tree in Ripley Park.
Raton Public Service Company first began dressing up the town for the Christmas season in 1935, and with the exception of the years of World War II, the tradition has continued to the present day.
Through the years, the eye-catching Christmas tree that is the main attraction of the downtown lighting decorations has ranged in size from 40 feet to 71 feet and has been positioned in several different places in the downtown area.
Initially, back in 1935, RPS put up three trees, along with stringers of colored lights across the streets. The Raton Daily Range reported on Nov. 25, 1935 that “three huge trees will stand at the intersections of First and Cook, Second and Cook and Second and Park. They will be brilliantly lighted.”
During Christmas of 1936 RPS and the Chamber of Commerce’s retail committee decided to set up one “gigantic tree” at the corner of Second Street and Cook Avenue. According to The Range, the 60-foot tree would have “myriads of lights, the numbers of which will engage the guessing ability of the populace for some time.”
In 1937, a 40-foot tree was anchored at the center of the intersection of Park Avenue and Second Street. T.R. Kirby, the manager of RPS, announced that the company’s workmen were also “erecting a star on Goat Hill, measuring 40 feet from point to point.” The front of the city’s municipal offices (at that time located in the Shuler building) was festooned with evergreen garlands, and colored lights were strung across streets and avenues.
RPS absorbed the cost of all of the decorations and provided free electricity for outside decorations for stores and businesses.
In the late 1930s, Raton was quickly earning a reputation for its elaborate Christmas decorations. Each year the retail committee and RPS set a goal to make the display bigger and better. With that goal in mind, in 1938, a 71-foot tree was placed atop Goat Hill along with the star. That same year The Range and RPS conducted a contest for citizens to guess the number of lights on the huge tree.
The tree was set up along the curb in front of the Shuler Theater in 1939. This site for the tree was used until sometime in the 1950s, when it was moved to the middle of Second Street between Park Avenue and Clark Avenue.
In November 1940, RPS Manager Kirby estimated that RPS spent $1,100 annually for Christmas lighting.
In 1941, as a result of Japan’s Dec. 7th attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States became involved in World War II. As men fought and died in combat, Raton struggled to keep the Christmas spirit alive in the hearts of its citizens. The Raton Chamber of Commerce made this observation in The Range Dec. 18, 1941: “We should decorate a bit more this year —Christmas spirit should be a bit stronger for we are fighting to keep Christmas as we see it.”
In addition to the big tree, two other good-sized trees, several thousand feet of tree “roping” along the streets, and the star on Goat Hill decorated Raton.
At a meeting of the board of directors of RPS on Nov.23, 1942, it was decided to eliminate all outdoor decorations for the Christmas holiday. The Range reported that this action was taken by the board “in compliance with the request of the War Production Board asking that all unnecessary lighting be abolished for the duration.” The War Production Board was established in 1942 by order of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Its purpose was to regulate the production and allocation of materials and fuel during World War II in the United States. It rationed such things as gasoline, heating oils, metals, rubber and plastic.
The following year Raton was again without Christmas lights, this time as a result of a mandatory order by the War Production Board which banned “all outside Christmas decorations by utilities companies.” The chamber’s retail committee expressed its disappointment, saying that the holiday time should be as “bright as possible, not only despite war, but on account of the tragic state of world events.”
With the end of the war in 1945, RPS was able to resume its Christmas decorating with the lighting of a huge 50-foot tree. The tree was augmented by other holiday lighting decorations in the business district, but RPS Manager V. A. Morgan said that “the lighting this year will not be up to pre-war standards in view of the manpower and material shortages.” In connection with Raton’s huge tree, Morgan also announced that cash prizes would be awarded to two people guessing closest to the number of light bulbs on the tree. The Range stated that a special committee of judges, Arthur Johnson, Mayor Joseph Kastler, and Frank Pfeiffer, would count the bulbs, as the strings of lights were removed from the tree.
The traditional Christmas lighting was cancelled in November 1946, due to a nationwide coal strike, which left 850 coal miners idle in Colfax County. However, John L. Lewis, president of the United Mine Workers of America, dramatically called off the strike in early December, so RPS began making plans to put up the tree and lights as quickly as possible.
A significant turning point in the history of Raton’s Christmas tree occurred in 1947. In early December of that year, acting Manager of RPS, Jack Horner, explained that “this year’s Christmas tree was ‘made’ from a flagpole with evergreen branches attached by holes drilled in the ‘trunk’. The tree is an experiment, and represents a substantial saving to the company. In previous years, the company has spent a week chopping down and hauling in a tree. This one was erected and decorated in a day.”
A Range column titled “From the South 30” (Dec. 3, 1966) said that RPS somehow came in possession of the flagpole from Camp Trinidad, a World War II prisoner of war camp located near Trinidad, Colo. According to the columnist, the pole “was gleaming white, straight as an arrow and perfectly tapered. Someone suggested using it for the trunk of a Christmas tree.”
The columnist continued, “The pole was re-painted brown and several hundred holes were drilled at strategic points along its length. Branches from two good-sized trees were gathered and placed in the holes to form the ‘tree’.”
The Christmas tree “experiment” mentioned by Jack Horner back in 1947 began a successful Raton tradition that lasted for 57 years. Eventually the original flagpole splintered and deteriorated, and was replaced by a utility pole. While awaiting its moment of glory at Christmas time, the pole in use for building the tree was unceremoniously stored in the RPS pole yard with a few pieces of tin thrown over it to keep the moisture out.
In 1994, amidst some controversial public sentiment, city officials made the decision to move the tree from its usual position in the center of the median between Park and Clark Avenues to RipleyPark. The RPS board, including Mayor Joe Apache who sat on the board as a commissioner, and RPS General Manager Bob Scheafer, decided to take action in order to prevent a possible traffic accident.
In a November 1994 article in The Raton Range Mayor Joe Apache called the tree transfer “common sense” after receiving several requests from citizens asking about the possibility of moving the tree for safety reasons. Most of the enquiries expressed complaints about vehicles almost hitting children because the tree created an obstructed view of pedestrians crossing the street. His concern about the near misses with children led Apache to press the issue with the RPS board and the Raton City Commission.
Apache said that if most people wanted the tree to be moved back to the median, it could be moved back the next year, but he felt the park setting provided a better place for the tree. “I truly believe you can enjoy it more now,” Apache said. “You can stop and look at it instead of just driving by. I think it can have a positive effect with people participating in things Christmasy. We haven’t lost the tree. It’s just in a better location.” Apache’s idea was that more activities could “take place with the tree as the ‘hub’.”
Generations ago, when RPS first began transforming Raton’s downtown area for the holidays, living trees were used. In 2004 things began to come full circle when the “tree” pole was retired and a live tree, originally gathered as a seedling from Johnson Mesa, was replanted in Ripley Park. The 25-year old evergreen tree, that is now the city of Raton’s permanent Christmas tree, came from the yard of Mary Lee Gabriele, who donated it in memory of her husband, Nardi, a longtime employee of RPS.
*Special thanks to Sandy Chavez and the Raton Public Service Company for use of the vintage Christmas tree photos.
What a wonderful site!
Wonderful article and pictures – brought lots of warm and sweet memories of Christmastime in Raton as a child. We live in Florida where it NEVER really feels like Christmas and so scanning thru the KRTN website and seeing stories like this make me realize how fortunate I am to have lived in that blessed lil town my entire childhood! Thank you!
Great research Pat, as usual. When my oldest daughter got her drivers license. That Christmas a teenage boy ran out of gas going north right beside the tree. His tail lights were an extension of the red lights at the base of the tree. He caught a ride to get gas leaving his truck in the street, left lane. Needless to say she ran into the back of the truck-very dangerous! Luckily no one was hurt.
Raton is history – memories as a child and throughout the years when I get the chance to visit my favorite spot I’d goat hill ..luv 2 sit up there & reminisce. .my roots my hometown.
Great story, and I love the classic pics of Raton! Please keep those coming!
Thanks for the great story. I remember the beautiful tree in the 40’s and 50’s then I left the area for 30 years. Ripley Park was the library and Evelyn Sheuler was the librarian.
I remember when the POW flag pole from Trinidad was brought to Raton with the intention of making it into the new larger Christmas Tree for Raton.. It was a labor of love for the RPS employees to assemble the tree year after year. It looked so beautiful sitting in the street, large and magnificent. It welcomed family and friends “home for the holidays.” It is a wonderful memory of days gone by. I was recently ‘home’ in Raton and was able to enjoy another old tradition of driving through the “City of Bethlehem”. It was sent to Raton from Madrid, NM when it became a ghost town, about 1948-49. I remember as a child, going the week before it opened to the public, with my father, Jack Horner, to make sure the angels’ lights were synchronized so they “flew down the mountain” without any delays. Raton has always had such sweet memories for me.
you dad, tad,ernie chaptman and my self would go up into the mountina and cut branches to fit into that pole. we all had a fun time doing this and enjoyed this event every year. I was a lineman for RPS in those yrs and your dad worked in the plant. I sure miss him and your mom. We had alot of fun going to dances togather back in the day. Tell them hello for me and please stay in touch love ya Garry
Great story! Thank you!
Awesome!!! Great article and pictures!! Thank you, RPS, for all your years of dedicated service to Raton!!