Welcome to our newest feature, Journey through Christmases Past. This series is a nostalgic celebration of the holidays we all remember...
- The history and traditions of the holiday.
- The décor that filled our homes.
- The toys that defined each decade.
- The television and movie shows that brightened the season.
- The outfits we adored (and the ones we definitely didn’t).
The year opens with the birth of the German Empire, and by May, the Franco-Prussian War has ended. America, only five years past the end of the Civil War, is in the middle of its Reconstruction era. Ulysses S. Grant, the Commanding General of the United States Army during the war, is now serving his second term as President of the United States. It is also the year that Congress will pass the Third Enforcement Act, designed to protect African Americans from violence during Reconstruction.
Photo credit: Wikipedia
The Rugby Football Union is formed in England in January. In March, journalist Henry Morton Stanley begins his expedition to find missing Scottish explorer Dr. David Livingstone in Africa, which will take him most of the year. Then, on April 10, 1871, P. T. Barnum debuts his first traveling circus.
Sadly, the Great Chicago Fire in October would leave more than one-third of the city's population homeless. The city's residents focus on rebuilding. Machinists work day and night to restore water; General Sheridan's troops and volunteers patrol the city to keep people safe; the newly formed Union Fire Proof Ticket, comprised of Republicans and Democrats dedicated to restoring Chicago’s economy and reforming its politics, gathers with their supporters; and Members of the Young Men’s Christian Association of Trinity Church plan to open a free Young Men's Club and Reading Room to help homeless out of work young men.
By December, residents of Chicago attend theater and lecture events as a distraction. A new mayor is elected. The new temporary city hall is constructed and welcomes employees of the city government. On Christmas Day, some stores welcome last-minute shoppers, and theaters attract large audiences. Four thousand Catholic worshippers attend a 4 a.m. High Mass with many Protestants on hand to witness the ceremony. [View a more complete timeline of Chicago in 1871, here.]
In the Big Woods of Pepin, Wisconsin, a four-year-old Laura Ingalls Wilder is growing up in a "little gray house made of logs," alongside her Pa, Ma, her sisters Mary and Carrie, and her brindle bulldog, Jack. In the fourth chapter of Little House in the Big Woods, Wilder describes the snowy days leading up to Christmas that year, when "Pa's breath hung in the air like smoke," and "icicles hung from the eaves of the house to the snowbanks."
Then the day before Christmas, the cousins come, and the little house is so full that Black Susan the cat runs out to hide in the barn. The children play outside, making pictures in the snow. When it is bedtime, they listen to the stories the adults tell until Pa gets his fiddle and sings them to sleep. In the morning, the children find that Santa Claus has come, leaving presents in their stockings.
If we consider these two Christmases side-by-side, you have a holiday filled with hope and magic. For Chicagoans, Christmas 1871 arrived in a city that was rising from the ashes, forging a new identity that would usher in an era of steel-supported skyscrapers more than a decade later. Nearly 350 miles away, on the snowy Wisconsin prairie, a Christmas of frontier simplicity unfolds, bringing with it a visit from family and Santa, along with the magic of Christmas morning. Both holidays embrace the importance of gathering together and making room for joy, which we still embrace today.
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