History
Christmas tree stands have been around at least since 1876, when Arthur's Illustrated Home Magazine suggested connecting a Christmas tree stand into a stand for flowers. In that same year, Hermann Albrecht of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania received U.S. Patent 183,100 and U.S. Patent 183,194as two of the first Christmas tree stand patents issued in the United States. In 1892, carpenter Edward Smith suggested a home made Christmas tree stand, noting,
As Christmas is near at hand, I will tell how I made a pretty stand for a Christmas tree: I took a board 14x14 inches, and one inch thick around this I made a tiny paling fence — there is a post at each corner set firmly Into a 1/4-inch hole, and a gate at the middle of one side with little posts, the same as at the corner. The palings are about 1/8-inch thick, and 1/2 inch wide, and the cross pieces are just a little thicker. The best tacks I could find for tacking the palings to the cross-pieces were pins cut in two, using only the head ends. I then painted the fence white, and the board grass-green. In the center of this Is a hole into which to fasten the tree.
In 1919, an American monthly magazine Popular Science touted a new type of Christmas-tree stand. The stand featured a broad, cone-shaped base that included an inlet for water and the Christmas tree trunk. Water placed in the galvanized iron shell would give considerable weight to the stand to steady the tree. Once the tree trunk was inserted into the water inlet, the tree would be kept fresh and green much longer than without the water supply.
Read more about this topic: Christmas Tree Stand
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“The one duty we owe to history is to rewrite it.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)
“Man watches his history on the screen with apathy and an occasional passing flicker of horror or indignation.”
—Conor Cruise O’Brien (b. 1917)
“The history of a soldier’s wound beguiles the pain of it.”
—Laurence Sterne (1713–1768)