A Beloved Christmas Tradition Begins in Denver
History was never one of my best, or even favorite subjects in school. I began to appreciate it more as I got older, and it took me starting my own tour company to fall in love with the stories and puzzles, and to truly appreciate the lessons that these stories can teach us and how they can make us feel. One of the most surprising and enthralling aspects of learning new stories about the city and the state I call home is how surprising some of them are and how so few people know about them. I’ve spent the last few years digging into Golden’s history specifically, but you can’t tell the story of Golden without the story of Denver and, for that matter, the story of Colorado itself. I recently learned a new story that begins in Denver in 1914, but that I guarantee has touched every single one of us over the last 108 years. If you live in Golden or have walked Clear Creek during the holiday season, you’ll know what I mean.
Anyone who has spent a bit of time in the Denver area has undoubtedly spotted a Sturgeon Electric truck traversing the streets. What you may not realize is that Sturgeon Electric has been in business since 1912, and its founder, D.D. Sturgeon was named the “Father of Yule Lighting” after his attempts to bring Christmas cheer to his ill son David made waves throughout the city.
The year was 1914. Austrian Archduke Francis Ferdinand and his wife were assassinated inciting World War I, the Panama Canal finally opened after 10 years of construction, the first red and green traffic lights on the planet were installed in Cleveland, Ohio, and on Christmas Eve, David Dwight Sturgeon and his family were settling into their home on W. 34th Avenue near the old Elitch's Gardens to celebrate the holiday. As the family gathered in the living room to celebrate the Christmas season, there was a noticeable absence. D.D.’s 10-year-old son, David Jr., was ill and confined to his bed upstairs, unable to participate in the holiday festivities. A pioneer in the electric industry, D.D. went outside to his storage shed and extracted boxes of light bulbs, a length of wire, two buckets of paint, and his tallest ladder. He proceeded to dip the light bulbs into red and green paint and string them together with the wire. With the ladder pitched against the old pine tree outside David’s window, he climbed into its snowy, outstretched limbs and strung the lights along its boughs. The family Christmas tree may have been decked to the T’s downstairs in the corner of the living room, but David now had his own, lit up bright for all to see, just outside his bedroom window. The first recorded illuminated exterior Christmas Tree in history.
A view of the old Sturgeon home on 34th Ave and Tennyson Street with tall pine trees in the corner of the yard.
Photo courtesy of Google Maps.
The spectacle drew not only the attention of young David, but friends and neighbors began flocking to the Sturgeon house to witness the illuminated engineering marvel. Word of the tree and David's illness soon traveled from The Denver Highlands into town where it caught the ear of noted Denver Post reporter Frances “Pinky” Wayne. The novelty and sentiment of the gift D.D. gave to his son tugged deeply at Wayne's heartstrings, inspiring her to write an article detailing the yuletide tribute. The Sturgeons soon found visitors from all over the state piloting their automobiles and carriages up and down 34th Avenue and Tennyson
Street to witness D.D.’s Christmas creation for themselves. There had been attempts at electrified outdoor lighting in the past, but nothing was as grand or as long lasting as D.D.’s tree. Nor had any prior attempt instilled in so many people such a sense of warmth, family, and holiday spirit. D.D. Sturgeon didn’t know it yet, but his family values and entrepreneurial spirit were about to make ripples far beyond his quiet neighborhood in Denver.
Christmastime in 1914 came and went. The stories of the grand outdoor Christmas tree faded and the Sturgeon family went on with life and with business. The famous tree went dark until the snow started falling again in late 1915. As the holiday season approached, D.D. once again climbed his ladder to adorn his tree with colored lights. This year, though, he wouldn't be lighting the tree to cheer up his son. With a heavy heart, D.D. turned on those lights as a tribute to him. While David had survived the illness that kept him bedridden the Christmas past, the months that followed would see him fall sick again, and this time he would not be strong enough to overcome it. The Sturgeon family had become well known around Denver by this time, and it didn't take long before they found their friends and neighbors climbing ladders and stringing colored light bulbs in their own trees in solidarity. The following years saw the beginnings of what would become one of the most celebrated of Christmas traditions. Denver was soon making national news as more and more people began adorning their homes and businesses with colored lights, earning D.D. Sturgeon the moniker "The Father of Yule Lighting."
Golden celebrates Armistice Day in a snowy November, 1918. This view is looking south down Washington Ave to the corner of 13th Street
November 11, 1918 rang the conclusion to World War I: Armistice Day. Parades and celebrations lined streets throughout the country. The last four years had pushed Americans into new challenges as loved ones were sent overseas and food rationing was required to prevent shortages. We were ready to mourn our losses and aspire to a new future and Frances Wayne had just the idea to launch the upcoming holiday season to new heights. She saw the inspiration and unity that Sturgeon's Christmas tree brought to the community and decided to lean in to America's fresh sense of competition. Wayne organized the world's first Outdoor Christmas Lighting Competition. Hundreds of participants from across the Denver area decked their respective halls for a chance to take home the inaugural prize. The end of the war certainly raised collective spirits across the country, and combined with Wayne's contest, intrepid engineers were inspired to create more durable and weather-resistant lighting, thus launching the national craze.
The following year—five years after D.D. Sturgeon first decorated a pine tree in his yard to raise his ill son's spirits—Denver City Electrician John Malpiede brought the tradition to the Denver Civic Center where he took it upon himself to replace lights around the building with red and green globes. Today, the City and County building at Civic Center Park is one of Denver's most recognizable and iconic displays of holiday lighting. So enamored with his work, one year later Malpiede added an illuminated Christmas tree in front of the State Capital, and then in 1926 did the same with City Hall. His passion and dedication helped fuel the Christmas light craze that, by the end of the 1920s, earned Denver the distinct title of "Christmas Capital of the World."
The tradition that took root here in Denver's quiet suburbs was sweeping the country. President Calvin Coolidge became the first sitting president to preside over a public celebration of the Christmas holidays when he lit the first National Christmas Tree in 1923. America's most famous Christmas Tree in Rockefeller Center was adorned with lights for the first time in 1933. In 1946, NBC produced a tribute to the City of Denver and the Sturgeon family, thanking them for starting such a beautiful tradition.
Today, both D.D. Sturgeon's and John Malpiede's passion and persistence lives on in the Civic Center holiday display, one of the largest in the nation.
As the sun drops behind Mount Galbraith and I stroll along Clear Creek through downtown Golden, I have a new appreciation for the colorful displays that have come to represent Christmas and the holiday season. What would Christmas in Golden have looked like just over 100 years ago? How would the Christmas landscape throughout your town look and feel without D.D.
Sturgeon's ingenuity? I grew up with electricity and outdoor illumination. This is something I've known as long as I've been alive, and some of my favorite Christmas memories are helping my dad put lights up on our house. My dad is no longer around to decorate the house, but it is a tradition I've kept up ever since. There is something magical about walking and driving the streets to take in the creativity and spirit of the holidays. And to think, it all began right here in Denver with a father's inspiration to bring some Christmas cheer to his son.
Looking south across Clear Creek at the Washington Avenue bridge adorned with Christmas lights. Golden’s Christmas lights are lit on the first Friday of December at the conclusion of the Olde Golden Candlelight Walk and will stay up through the National Western Stock Show, as has become Colorado tradition.
Photo by Chris Albrecht (author)
The trees of Parfet Park in Downtown Golden decked out in gorgeous colors for the holiday season.
Photo by Chris Albrecht (author)
