A Story of Christmastown

Shelton embraced the nickname "Christmastown, USA" in 1955.

Even the president of the United States ended that year with a Mason County holiday tree gracing his home. At the time, Mason County tree farms were selling more than 1 million Christmas trees a year.

The Shelton-Mason County Journal, which immediately began showcasing the new slogan at the top of each page, chronicled the embrace of the moniker that year, which culminated in December with a Chicago Daily News article that proclaimed, "Shelton is perhaps the most famous Christmas tree center in America."

In February 1955, the Shelton Chamber of Commerce voted to adopt the slogan "Christmastown, USA" to use on its stationery and literature. According to a Journal article, the chamber would use the nickname "in its efforts to attract new, non-forest-type industry to Shelton."

In March 1955, members of the Northwest Christmas Tree Association gathered in Vancouver's Evergreen Hotel and adopted a resolution naming Shelton "Christmas Tree Capital of the Nation." The association, which included about 100 Washington and Oregon tree growers, also voted to gather for its annual convention at Shelton's Masonic Temple the following September.

Those votes, according to an article by Journal news editor Rod Cardwell, "brought reality to the dreams of a chamber of commerce that undertook not long ago to bill Shelton as "Christmastown, USA.' "

A Journal headline in March also announced "Chamber to Pay for Yule Town Promotion Ideas." The first paragraph stated, "Wanted: Everyone's ideas the Chamber of Commerce publicity and advertising committee might use in its promotion and publicizing of Shelton as 'Christmastown, USA.' "

The top three prizes totaled $25, which doesn't sound like much money today. But in 1955, you could buy a pound of slab bacon for 39 cents at the Shelton Safeway, and a boy's crepe sport shirt for $1 at Lumbermen's Mercantile.

The three winning ideas: putting the slogan on license plates, window decals and kids' T-shirts; featuring it on stationery; and establishing a "cachet for letters mailed through the Shelton Post Office."

In April 1955, the Shelton City Commission voted to adopt "Christmastown, USA" as the city's official slogan. The nickname was registered with the state Secretary of the State's Office for exclusive use. By that time, the city was already using the slogan on its water bills, and businesses were adding it to their stationery.

In August, Harold Lakesburg renamed his Pine Auto Court in Mountainview the Christmas Town Motel. A Journal story noted the change was in keeping with the chamber's program "to promote Shelton as an ideal location for businesses geared in some way to the manufacturing of Christmas tree articles." The story did not mention what those businesses might be.

A photo that month showed Al Drenyson displaying T-shirts with the city's new nickname at Parker's.

In September, the assistant head of the Northwest Christmas Tree Association told a Shelton Chamber of Commerce audience that Mason County farmers were producing 20,000 acres of yule trees.

"Christmas tree farming has not reached its zenith in this area by any means," he said.

In November, Shelton Mayor Herb Rotter presented a flag emblazoned with "Shelton Christmastown, USA" to four Shelton youths - Jerry Olson, Hugh McSweyne, William Maesner Jr. and Gilbert Johnston - who joined the Navy to train together in San Diego with an all-Washington company of recruits.

The year of the new slogan culminated in December with the local Douglas Fir Christmas Tree Co. shipping a Yule tree to the Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, home of President Dwight Eisenhower.

The photo caption noted that the president "will be one of more than a million persons to eat Christmas dinner with a view of a Mason County Christmas tree."