Project Description: Replica of the 1882 Electric Christmas Tree

Overview:
As part of the Murray Hill Neighborhood Association’s 2025 holiday season initiatives, we will recreate a historically accurate outdoor replica of the world’s first electrically illuminated Christmas tree, originally designed by Edward H. Johnson (a colleague of Thomas Edison) and first displayed at his Murray Hill residence in 1882.

The replica will be installed at 38th Street and Park Avenue, viewable by residents and tens of thousands of visitors throughout each holiday season for decades to come.

Specifications for the Replica

Tree:

• A real 6–7-foot tall Christmas tree, purchased fresh annually.
• Decorated with Edison-style incandescent bulbs (walnut-sized), modeled on the originals used in 1882.
  ↳ Reference: Edison bulb

Lighting Design:

• 120 colored globes (red, white, blue, and other hues) attached to the tree.
• Lights should be arranged in multiple sets that turn on and off in sequence as the tree rotates, mimicking the original’s light-show effect:
  • 1st rotation: white lights
  • 2nd: red and white
  • 3rd: yellow and white
  • Repeat with other combinations

Power & Mechanics:

• A rotating base that turns the tree at a slow, steady speed (approx. 6 rotations per minute).
• Base powered by a modern equivalent of an 1880s-style dynamo motor, hidden within the display but visually resembling original technology.
  ↳ Example reference: Video of working dynamo
• The switching of light sets can be automated using a mechanism that mimics Johnson’s original: a rotating copper band or circuit interrupter to alternate lighting patterns.

Display Environment:

• Weatherproof components and electrical safety for public outdoor use
• Plaque or signage providing historical background on Edward H. Johnson and the significance of the tree

Historical Inspiration & Sources

• In 1882, Johnson used 80 hand-wired red, white, and blue bulbs on a tree in his home, powered by an isolated electric plant.
• The tree sat on a rotating wooden platform and displayed different sets of lights as it turned.
• By 1884, he advanced the design to include 120 lights on a 6-foot tree at 139 E. 36th Street.
• Sources:
  • Bowery Boys: The World’s First Electric Christmas Tree
  • Wikipedia: Edward Hibberd Johnson
  • NY Times, 1884: “A Brilliant Christmas Tree”
  • Electrical World, 1883

Goals:

• Celebrate Murray Hill’s role in the origins of electric holiday lighting
• Honor the legacy of innovation by Johnson and Edison
• Create an interactive and educational experience for the public
• Unveil the tree for the December 2025 holiday season

Here is the image of the tree from an 1884 New York Times article

Here is a rendering of the tree from ChatGPT

Insights from Thomas Edison National Historical Park:

We know about Edward Johnson’s Christmas tree lights but we lack details about the design and operation of those lights.  What we know: As early as 1882, Johnson decorated his family’s Christmas tree with Edison lamps that turned on and off as a small motor revolved the tree. In December 1883, he used that experience to design ornamentation for a revolving tree forty-five feet high with 225 red, white, and blue lights at the Foreign Exhibition in Boston. Johnson reprised the domestic display at his home the following year with 120 lights in clear and colored globes on a six-foot tree.

City directories gave Johnson’s residence addresses for the years ending 1 May 1883 and 1884 as 269 E. 10th St. and 139 E. 36th St. respectively.

Johnson apparently used a gasoline engine to power his isolated lighting plant in his home at 139 E. Thirty-sixth St. This isolated plant provided the electricity for his Christmas tree lights. Gasoline engines used for this purpose tended to oscillate, causing lights to flicke (a problem Edison attempted to fix in 1882).

Attached is a page from an Edison Electric Light Co. catalog showing various Edison dynamos available around the time Johnson set up his tree.  Johnson probably used one of the smaller dynamos illustrated on this page.

You may find more information in the following newspaper articles: “A Giant Electric Tree,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, 22 Dec. 1883, 16; “In and About the City. A Brilliant Christmas Tree,” New York Times, 27 Dec. 1884, 5, and  “A Christmas Tree Lighted by Electricity,” Electrical World 1 (20 Jan. 1883): 38.

I extracted this information from volumes 5 and 6 of the Thomas A. Edison Papers book edition, which are available for download at the Internet Archive.

Sincerely,

Leonard DeGraaf

Archivist

Thomas Edison National Historical Park

National Park Service

US Department of the Interior