Before horseless carriages dominated the streets, downtown Terre Haute was a shopper's paradise.

And, in times past, the city boasted a municipal Christmas tree. In 1915, local newspapers photographed a city-sponsored holiday symbol; however, its location remains an enigma. World War I apparently prevented an annual tradition from being established.

In December 1922, the concept resurfaced and a huge fir tree was placed in the middle of the intersection at Eighth and Ohio streets.

Illuminated by strings of 25-watt bulbs and draped with laurel and papier-mâché ornaments, the tree dominated the intersection. A wooden platform was erected nearby for Santa Claus to meet and greet children.

One Terre Haute journalist advocated placing a brightly-lit Christmas tree in every neighborhood.

"It wouldn't be such a hard task to trim a tree for every corner if all the neighborhoods in the city got busy," Wanda Kantman wrote Dec. 16, 1922, in the <EM>Saturday Spectator</EM>.

"There are children in every square. Let them get together, collect some money and buy a tree. Surely one dad in the 12 or 15 that there are in one block will have enough spare time to set it up."

There were no traffic signals in the city in 1922, so the intersection at Eighth and Ohio, as well as each intersection on Wabash Avenue from Third to Eighth streets, was controlled by a city policeman.

As motor-vehicle use increased, pedestrian safety became a serious issue. After a few years the downtown municipal Christmas tree was scuttled.

Meanwhile, Terre Haute's spectacular "tunnel of Christmas lights" -- electrically lit evergreen garlands draped from street lamp to street lamp on both sides of Wabash Avenue from Third to Eighth streets -- continued until 1940.

That tradition was abandoned when new, but less sturdy street light poles were installed and unable to handle the heavy decorations.

Between 1873 and 1895, the Terre Haute Opera House -- later known as the Naylor Opera House -- was the venue for a special show on Christmas Day.

On Dec. 25, 1873, renowned soprano Clara Louise Kellogg and her opera company presented "Faust" in the spectacular theater at the northeast corner of Fourth Street and Wabash Avenue. The following night, Kellogg starred in "The Bohemian Girl." During ensuing years there were other significant Christmas offerings: prominent English actor and lecturer John Lawrence Toole (1874); Terre Haute actor James Paxton Voorhees, son of Sen. Daniel W. Voorhees, as "Hamlet" (1875); Shakespearean actress Augusta Dargon (1876); The Agnes Wallace Villa Co. (1878); Victor Hugo's "The Fool's Revenge," starring New York actor Frederick Paulding (1879); playwright-composer Edward E. Rice's "Surprise Party" (1884); George Wilson's Minstrels (1887); Col. Jack Haverly and his Minstrels with Lew Dockstader, Billy Rice and banjoist E.M. Hall (1888); Terre Haute's famous Melville Sisters, Ida and Rose, in Samuel Young's play "Zeb" (1892); and popular French-born Madame Rhea in "Nell Gwynne" (1895).

The Naylor Opera House was destroyed by fire on July 21, 1896. On several occasions, nationally-known performers from Terre Haute scheduled performances in their home city during the holiday season.

Paul Dresser returned with Thatcher, Primrose &amp; West Minstrels twice during the 1880s in late December. Rose Melville presented "Sis Hopkins" in the Grand Opera House over the holidays in 1901 and 1905.

Alice Fischer appeared at the Grand in "Mrs. Jack" in early December 1902. And Valeska Suratt brought her hit play, "The Red Rose," to the Grand in December 1911.

December 1911 also will be remembered as the month the first lighted advertising sign appeared on Wabash Avenue, flaunting Champagne Velvet beer produced by the Terre Haute Brewing Co.

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Christmas 1921 was particularly joyful for many Terre Hauteans.

On Dec. 23, President Warren Harding announced that he was going to commute the 10-year prison sentence of Eugene V. Debs, incarcerated in the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary for sedition.

Thousands wearing red badges congregated at Union Depot on Wednesday evening, Dec. 28, to welcome the socialist labor leader home. At least two bands celebrated the occasion by playing "Hail, Hail, the Gang's All Here," "Home, Sweet, Home" and other standards.

Terre Haute Mayor Charles Hunter waited with Debs' wife, Kate, on the front porch of the Debs home on North Eighth Street to greet him.

Mike McCormick is the Vigo County historian. His column appears each Sunday.