An aluminum Christmas tree is a type of

artificial Christmas tree An artificial Christmas tree is an artificial pine or fir tree manufactured for the specific purpose of use as a Christmas tree. The earliest artificial Christmas trees were wooden, tree-shaped pyramids or feather trees, both developed by Germans. ...

that was popular in the United States from 1958 until about the mid-1960s. As its name suggests, the tree is made of

aluminum Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It has ...

, featuring foil needles and illumination from below via a rotating

color wheel A color wheel or color circle is an abstract illustrative organization of color hues around a circle, which shows the relationships between primary colors, secondary colors, tertiary colors etc. Some sources use the terms ''color wheel'' & ' ...

. The aluminum Christmas tree was used as a symbol of the commercialization of

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...

in the 1965

television special A television special (often TV special, or rarely television spectacular) is a standalone television show which may also temporarily interrupt episodic programming normally scheduled for a given time slot. Some specials provide a full range of ent ...

, ''

A Charlie Brown Christmas ''A Charlie Brown Christmas'' is a 1965 animated television special. It is the first TV special based on the comic strip ''Peanuts'', by Charles M. Schulz. Produced by Lee Mendelson and directed by Bill Melendez, the program made its debut on C ...

'', which discredited its suitability as a holiday decoration. By the mid-2000s aluminum trees found a secondary market online, often selling for high premiums. The trees have also appeared in museum collections.

History

Manufacturing

Aluminum trees have been said to be the first

artificial Christmas trees An artificial Christmas tree is an artificial pine or fir tree manufactured for the specific purpose of use as a Christmas tree. The earliest artificial Christmas trees were wooden, tree-shaped pyramids or feather trees, both developed by Germans ...

that were not green in color.Hewitt, James. ''The Christmas Tree'',
Google Books
, Lulu.com, 2007, p. 34, (). It is more accurate to say that aluminum Christmas trees were the first nongreen Christmas trees commercially successful on a grand scale. Long before aluminum Christmas trees were commercially available at least by the late 19th century, white "Christmas trees" were made at home by wrapping strips of cotton batting around leafless branches, making what appeared to be snow-laden trees that stayed white in the home. These non-green trees made perfect displays for ornaments and dropped no needles. After Christmas, the cotton was unwrapped and stored with the ornaments for the next year while the branches were burnt or otherwise discarded. Flocked trees, real or artificial, to which flocking was applied became fashionable for the wealthy during the 1930s and have been commercially available since. A 1937 issue of ''

Popular Science ''Popular Science'' (also known as ''PopSci'') is an American digital magazine carrying popular science content, which refers to articles for the general reader on science and technology subjects. ''Popular Science'' has won over 58 awards, incl ...

'' advocated spraying aluminum paint using an insect spray gun to coat Christmas trees causing it to appear as if "fashioned of molten silver".Keith, K.F., "Sprays Aluminum Paint on Christmas Tree",
Google Books link
, ''

'', January 1937, p.90. Retrieved September 22, 2012. Aluminum

Christmas trees A Christmas tree is a decorated tree, usually an evergreen conifer, such as a spruce, pine or fir, or an artificial tree of similar appearance, associated with the celebration of Christmas. The custom was further developed in early modern G ...

were first commercially manufactured sometime around 1955, remained popular into the 1960s, and were manufactured into the 1970s. The trees were first manufactured by Modern Coatings, Inc. of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. Between 1959 and 1969, the bulk of aluminum Christmas trees were produced in

Manitowoc, Wisconsin Manitowoc () is a city in and the county seat of Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, United States. The city is located on Lake Michigan at the mouth of the Manitowoc River. According to the 2020 census, Manitowoc had a population of 34,626, with over ...

, by the Aluminum Specialty Company; in that decade the company produced more than one million aluminum trees. At the time they were produced in Manitowoc the trees, including the company's flagship product the "Evergleam", retailed for $25 and wholesaled for $11.25.

Popularity

During the 1960s, the aluminum

Christmas tree A Christmas tree is a decorated tree, usually an evergreen conifer, such as a spruce, pine or fir, or an artificial tree of similar appearance, associated with the celebration of Christmas. The custom was further developed in early modern ...

enjoyed its most popular period of usage. As the mid-1960s passed, the aluminum Christmas tree began to fall out of favor, with many thrown away or relegated to basements and attics. The airing of ''

'' in 1965 has been credited with ending the era of the aluminum tree,Andrews, Candice Gaukel. ''Great Wisconsin Winter Weekends'',
Google Books
, Big Earth Publishing, 2006, p. 178, () and by 1967 their time had almost completely passed. At the height of the aluminum tree's popularity, the trees were sold in the

Sears catalog Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began a ...

Re-emergence

The Childrens Museum of Indianapolis - Aluminum Christmas tree

By 1989, it was not uncommon to find aluminum

s for sale in

yard sale A garage sale (also known as a yard sale, tag sale, moving sale and by many other namesSome rarely used names include "attic sale," "basement sale," "rummage sale," "thrift sale," "patio sale," "lawn sale," and "jumble sale".) is an informal ...

s or at

estate sale An estate sale or estate liquidation is a sale or auction to dispose of a substantial portion of the materials owned by a person who is recently deceased or who must dispose of their personal property to facilitate a move. Reasons for an estate ...

s being sold for as little as 25 cents. In recent years the aluminum Christmas tree has seen a re-emergence in popularity. Collectors began buying and selling the trees, especially on

online auction An online auction (also electronic auction, e-auction, virtual auction, or eAuction) is an auction held over the internet and accessed by internet connected devices. Similar to in-person auctions, online auctions come in a variety of types, with d ...

web sites. A rare pink aluminum Christmas tree sold on the Internet for $3,600 in 2005.Pinto, Barbara.
Town Leads Aluminum Christmas Tree Revival
", ''

ABC News ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include Breakfast television, morning ...

'', December 18, 2005, accessed December 13, 2008.

Design

Aluminum Christmas trees consisted of aluminum branches attached to a wooden or

central pole. The central pole had holes drilled into at angles so when the

aluminum foil Aluminium foil (or aluminum foil in North American English; often informally called tin foil) is aluminium prepared in thin metal leaves with a thickness less than ; thinner gauges down to are also commonly used. Standard household foil is typ ...

branches were attached they formed a tree shape. The foil branches had woven aluminum "needles" as well. Each tree took about 15 minutes to assemble. The first aluminum trees could not be illuminated in the manner traditional for natural Christmas trees or other artificial trees. Fire safety concerns prevented

lights Light is an electromagnetic radiation, part of which stimulates the sense of vision. Light or Lights may also refer to: Illumination * Light bulb * Traffic light Arts and entertainment Music * Lights (musician) (born 1987), Canadian singer-son ...

from being strung through the tree's branches; draping electric lights through an aluminum tree could cause a

short circuit A short circuit (sometimes abbreviated to short or s/c) is an electrical circuit that allows a current to travel along an unintended path with no or very low electrical impedance. This results in an excessive current flowing through the circuit ...

. The common method of illumination was a floor-based "

" which was placed under the tree. The color wheel featured various colored segments on a clear plastic wheel; when the wheel rotated a light shone through the clear plastic casting an array of colors throughout the tree's metallic branches. Sometimes this spectacle was enhanced by a rotating

Christmas tree stand A Christmas tree stand is an object designed to support a cut, natural or an artificial Christmas tree. Christmas tree stands appeared as early as 1876 and have had various designs over the years. Those stands designed for natural trees have a wate ...

.Lukas, Paul.
Trees Made of Tinsel
", ''

Money Magazine ''Money'' is an American personal finance brand and website owned by Ad Practitioners LLC and formerly also a monthly magazine, first published by Time Inc. (1972–2018) and later by Meredith Corporation (2018–2019). Its articles cover the g ...

'', via CNNMoney.com December 1, 2004, accessed December 13, 2008. Aluminum Christmas trees have been variously described as

futuristic The future is the time after the past and present. Its arrival is considered inevitable due to the existence of time and the laws of physics. Due to the apparent nature of reality and the unavoidability of the future, everything that currently ...

or as cast in a style which evoked the glitter of the

Space Age The Space Age is a period encompassing the activities related to the Space Race, space exploration, space technology, and the cultural developments influenced by these events, beginning with the Sputnik_1#Launch_and_mission, launch of Sputnik 1 ...

. A ''

Money Money is any item or verifiable record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts, such as taxes, in a particular country or socio-economic context. The primary functions which distinguish money are as ...

'' magazine article published on the CNN website in 2004 called the design of aluminum Christmas trees "clever". The same article asserted that once the trees overcame their cultural baggage as icons of bad-taste, that aluminum Christmas trees were actually beautiful decor. The Space Age-feel of the trees made them especially suited to the streamlined home decor of the time period.Aluminum Christmas Trees
", Cool Things, ''Kansas State Historical Society'', official site, accessed December 13, 2008.

Cultural significance

The aluminum Christmas tree was used as a symbol of the over-

commercialization Commercialization or commercialisation is the process of introducing a new product or production method into commerce—making it available on the market. The term often connotes especially entry into the mass market (as opposed to entry into ear ...

of Christmas in the 1965

Peanuts ''Peanuts'' is a print syndication, syndicated daily strip, daily and Sunday strip, Sunday American comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz. The strip's original run extended from 1950 to 2000, continuing in reruns afterward. ' ...

holiday special, ''

''. The program is considered a classic amongst

Christmas special Christmas themes have long been an inspiration to artists and writers. A prominent aspect of Christian media, the topic first appeared in in literature and Christmas music. Filmmakers have picked up on this wealth of material, with both adaptation ...

s, and its mention of the aluminum tree solidified the tree's legendary status while satirizing it as well. In the special, Lucy van Pelt implored

Charlie Brown Charles "Charlie" Brown is the principal character of the comic strip ''Peanuts'', syndicated in daily and Sunday newspapers in numerous countries all over the world. Depicted as a "lovable loser," Charlie Brown is one of the great American ar ...

to get a "big, shiny aluminum tree...maybe painted pink" for the group's

nativity play A Nativity play or Christmas pageant is a play which recounts the story of the Nativity of Jesus. It is usually performed at Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, obse ...

. Charlie Brown lamented the commercialization of Christmas and, in a lot surrounded by many huge aluminum trees (much larger than most aluminum trees of the era), purchased a small, scrawny natural tree on a whim instead.A dark family secret: the artificial Christmas tree
, ''

Oakland Tribune The ''Oakland Tribune'' is a weekly newspaper published in Oakland, California, by the Bay Area News Group (BANG), a subsidiary of MediaNews Group. Founded in 1874, the ''Tribune'' rose to become an influential daily newspaper. With the declin ...

'', December 24, 2006, via

findarticles.com ''FindArticles'' was a website which provided access to articles previously published in over 3,000 magazines, newspapers, journals, business reports and other sources. The site offered free and paid content through the HighBeam Research database ...

, accessed December 13, 2008. The re-emergent popularity of aluminum Christmas trees has allowed them to find their way into museum collections. One example is the Aluminum Christmas Tree Museum (officially known as the Aluminum Tree and Aesthetically Challenged Seasonal Ornament Museum and Research Center).Priestly, Kent and Elliston, Jon. ''North Carolina Curiosities, 4th: Quirky Characters, Roadside Oddities & Other Offbeat Stuff'',
Google Books link
, ''

Globe Pequot Globe Pequot is a book publisher and distributor of outdoor recreation and leisure titles that publishes 500 new titles. Globe Pequot was acquired by Morris Communications in 1997. Lyons Press was acquired in 2001. It was sold to Rowman & Littlef ...

'', 2011, pp. 32-33, (), (). The museum, variously located in Brevard or

Asheville, North Carolina Asheville ( ) is a city in, and the county seat of, Buncombe County, North Carolina. Located at the confluence of the French Broad and Swannanoa rivers, it is the largest city in Western North Carolina, and the state's 11th-most populous cit ...

was called "campy" by

Fodor's Fodor's is a publisher of English language travel and tourism information. Fodor's Travel and Fodors.com are divisions of Internet Brands. History Founder Eugene Fodor was a keen traveler, but felt that the guidebooks of his time were boring ...

in 2009.

. ''Fodor's The Carolinas & Georgia'', '' Random House Digital'', Inc., 2009, p. 149, (), (). The

Children's Museum of Indianapolis The Children's Museum of Indianapolis is the world's largest children's museum. It is located at 3000 North Meridian Street, Indianapolis, Indiana in the United Northwest Area neighborhood of the city. The museum is accredited by the American Al ...

holds a vintage aluminum Christmas tree and color wheel in its collections.Aluminum Christmas Tree and Color Wheel
, Digital Collections, ''

Indianapolis Public Library The Indianapolis Public Library (IndyPL), formerly known as the Indianapolis–Marion County Public Library, is the public library system serving the citizens of Marion County, Indiana, United States and its largest city, Indianapolis. The li ...

'', Artifacts at the Children's Museum of Indianapolis, accessed September 23, 2012. The Wisconsin Historical Museum has held the "'Tis the Season" exhibition at least twice, featuring a collection of vintage aluminum Christmas trees.'Tis the Season for Aluminum Christmas Trees
, ''

Wisconsin Historical Society The Wisconsin Historical Society (officially the State Historical Society of Wisconsin) is simultaneously a state agency and a private membership organization whose purpose is to maintain, promote and spread knowledge relating to the history of N ...

'', Highlights Archives, November 23, 2009, accessed September 23, 2012.

References

External links

* Liane Hansen, Hansen, Liane.
Aluminum Christmas Tree Museum
,

Weekend Edition Sunday ''Weekend Edition'' is a set of American radio news magazine programs produced and distributed by National Public Radio (NPR). It is the weekend counterpart to the NPR radio program ''Morning Edition''. It consists of ''Weekend Edition Saturday'' ...

, (audio),

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other n ...

, December 3, 2000, accessed December 12, 2008. *Martin, Emma.
Vintage Aluminum Christmas Trees - Caring for Your Aluminum Christmas Tree
", ''American Chronicle'', November 29, 2007, accessed December 12, 2008. *Murray, Patty.
Aluminum Trees Make a Comeback
, (audio), ''

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

'', "

All Things Considered ''All Things Considered'' (''ATC'') is the flagship news program on the American network National Public Radio (NPR). It was the first news program on NPR, premiering on May 3, 1971. It is broadcast live on NPR affiliated stations in the United ...

", December 8, 2004, accessed September 23, 2012. *Robinson, Tom,
Aluminum Christmas Trees Come to Canada
, On This Day, (

Audio Audio most commonly refers to sound, as it is transmitted in signal form. It may also refer to: Sound *Audio signal, an electrical representation of sound *Audio frequency, a frequency in the audio spectrum *Digital audio, representation of sound ...

Visual The visual system comprises the sensory organ (the eye) and parts of the central nervous system (the retina containing photoreceptor cells, the optic nerve, the optic tract and the visual cortex) which gives organisms the sense of sight (the ...

), ''

CBC Radio CBC Radio is the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which (regardless of language) are outlined below ...

'', December 22, 1960, accessed December 13, 2008. *

.
Pink Evergleam Aluminum Christmas Tree
(Museum object #2005.174.1.1), ''Wisconsin Historical Society'' - Curators' Favorites, December 15, 2005. Retrieved September 22, 2012.
Kitsch pink Christmas decorations
including a history of aluminum Christmas trees. {{Authority control Products introduced in 1955 Artificial Christmas trees Aluminum objects Space Age