A holiday tradition for over 90 years, the Rockefeller Christmas Tree has become the unofficial start to the season in New York. A number of the giant trees have come from Long Island, including one of the most bling trees ever. Read on for our crazy facts about the Rockefeller Center Christmas Trees from Long Island.
Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree History
- The tradition started when the first Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center was erected in 1931
- It was during the Depression-era construction of Rockefeller Center
- Workers decorated a 20-foot balsam fir with "strings of cranberries, garlands of paper, and even a few tin cans" on Christmas Eve
- The handmade garlands made by the workers’ families
- According to the official Rockefeller Center website, workers “pooled their money together to buy a Christmas tree”
- The first official tree lighting was in 1933
- From 1942 until the end of WWII, the tree went unlit each year due to blackout regulations
- Christmas of 1999 hosted the largest Tree in Rockefeller Center’s history at 100 feet tall - it was from Connecticut
- If you have a tree you want to be considered for Rockefeller Center you can donate it here
1934 - Babylon
- A 7-ton, 70-foot tall Norway Spruce from Babylon was erected in Rockefeller Center in 1934
- That tree was decorated with 1,200 colored lights and illuminated by four floodlights
- It was only the third Christmas Tree in Rockefeller Center
1942 - Huntington
- The official Rockefeller Center website shows a 50-foot tall tree that came from Huntington during World War II
- The tree went unlit due to black-out regulations
- There were actually three trees that year and one was decorated red, another white, and another blue to show support for the troops
1944 - Long Island
- In 1944 a 65-foot, 50-year-old Norway spruce came from somewhere on Long Island
- It was another one of the unlit trees since 1941, known as the “Dark Trees"
- A report said that the trees roots were still bound in burlap when it arrived
1945 - Syosset
- In 1945, a 55-foot Norman spruce from Syosset became the first to be illuminated since WWII began
- That tree was illuminated by fluorescent lights
- A report said that people had been dismayed that the Chrtistmas Trees were being cut down and discarded for the annual tradition
- In 1945, the tree had a ball of earth 11-feet in diameter so that it could be replanted at the private estate form which it came, according to a New York Times report
- The tree was lit from 5pm until midnight from mid-December until January 1st
1946 - Syosset
- In 1946, a 75-foot Norway spruce came from Syosset once again
1947 - Deer Park
- In 1947, a 65-foot Norway spruce came from Deer Park
- Trimmings included 600 golden plastic balls
- Seven miles of electric wire was hung for the electric lights
1949 Tree from Yaphank
- Probably one of the most celebrated Christmas Trees from Long Island
- That year’s tree was a 75-foot Norway spruce
- It was 75-years-old, making it’s birthday in 1874
- The tree was donated to Rockefeller Center by Yaphank’s Charles Everett Walters in 1949
- It was sprayed with two hundred gallons of silvery-white camouflage paint to look snow-covered look before it was cut down
- Five hundred plastic globes in blue, yellow, orange, orchid, and red adorned the tree and were reflected by the silver branches during the day. 7,500 green, yellow, orange, blue, and red lights lit up the tree at night, according to the Yaphank Historical Society
- The tree also had 500 colorful ornament
- They went on to say that “this tree was a dazzling sight, both day and night”
- Rockefeller Center added to this dazzling display by “decorating the promenade leading to the tree with 576 rapidly whirling illuminated giant snowflakes”
- The display was made so merry and bright that year for visitors - who had to endure the austerity of WWII when the Rockefeller Center tree was decorated very plainly with no electric lights - that it caused a crazy traffic jam on 5th Avenue that year
- Police were called to enforce emergency traffic rules
- The tree was featured in the November 29, 1949 issue of the New York Times with the headline, “7,500 Bulbs at Night, ‘Icy’ Coat by Day, Light the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree”
- A story about the tree was also published in Life Magazine
1951 - Lake Ronkonkoma
- In 1951, an 82-foot tall tree came from Lake Ronkonkoma
1961 - Smithtown
- In 1961, an 85-foot Norway spruce was shipped from Smithtown
- The tree weighed two-and-a-half tons
- It was estimated to be 85-years old making its birthday around 1876
- The tree came from a 138-acre former estate off Landing Meadow Road that, according to reports, was being “let go back to nature”
- The tree came from a site in front of where a manor house once stood
- Mr. and Mrs. Maurice Gilmartin, who owned the estate, took the house down ten years prior