87TH ROCKEFELLER CENTER TREE LIGHTING 2019

In December 1931, demolition workers at the Rockefeller Center construction site pooled their money together to buy a Christmas tree. The 20-foot high balsam fir was decorated with handmade garlands by the men’s families. This photo, taken on Christmas Eve, shows the men lined up to receive their wages.

20 feet tall, origin not on record.

Rockefeller Center decided to make the Christmas Tree an annual tradition and held the very first tree lighting ceremony.

50 feet tall, origin not on record.

Two trees were erected at Rockefeller Center and a skating pageant was held at the newly-opened ice skating rink on the plaza.

70 feet tall, from Morristown, New Jersey.

World War II ushered in an era of simple and patriotic designs, including red, white and blue unlit globes and painted wooden stars. In 1942, no materials essential to the war effort were used to decorate the Center and instead of one large tree, three more modest trees were raised. From 1942 until the end of the war, the Tree went unlit each year due to black-out regulations.

The middle tree was 50 feet tall, from Huntington, New York. The two additional trees stood at 30 feet tall.

Santa and friends watch as the 1951 tree is raised.

82 feet tall, from Lake Ronkonkoma, New York.

In the 1950s, workers began using scaffolding to air in decorating the trees. Before the decade was over, the process called for twenty men and a period of nine days.

85 feet tall, from Allamuchy, New Jersey.

The Christmas Tree has long received the white-glove treatment on its journey to the heart of Manhattan. The Tree is frequently dressed in giant red bows or banners extending holiday greetings to those who witness its pilgrimage. Trucks, barges, and even a plane have all helped the Tree make it to the big city.

60 feet tall, from Hurley, New York.

In 1969, Valerie Clarebout’s triumphant and towering wire angel figures debuted in the Channel Gardens. She created the twelve sculptures using seventy-five points of metal wire each. Valerie Clarebout passed away in 1982 at the age of seventy-four, but her legacy lives on in her resplendent gift to New York City.

The Bragg family donated the 1971 sixty-five-foot balsam fir tree from their farm in East Montpelier, Vermont. It was the first Tree to be mulched and recycled.

65 feet tall, from East Montpelier, Vermont.

This Tree traveled down the Hudson River by barge from its home in Stony Point, New York. (Tree on barge with World Trade behind photo)

74 feet tall, from Stony Point, New York.

In 1998, a tree from Richfield, Ohio, was flown to New York City on the world’s largest transport plane, the Anatov 124.

73 feet tall, from Richfield, Ohio.

Christmas of 1999 boasts the largest tree in Rockefeller Center’s history. Hailing from Killingworth, Connecticut, the tree stood at 100 feet tall.

100 feet tall, from Killingworth, Connecticut.

In December, 2001, visitors from around the world came after September 11th to see the Tree decorated in a patriotic red, white, and blue.

81 feet tall, from Wayne, New Jersey.

In 2004, the 550-pound Swarovski star first adorned the top of the tree. It featured twenty-five thousand crystals and one million facets and was nine-and-a-half feed in diameter. The following year, the addition of L.E.D. lights made the star look as if it were radiating light from its core to its tips.

71 feet tall, from Suffren, New York.

In 2018, a new Swarovski Star, designed by famed architect Daniel Libeskind adorned the 72-foot-tall Christmas Tree. The 9-foot-4-inch topper, backlit by LEDs, features 3 million dazzling Swarovski crystals across 70 triangular spikes.