Christmas Lights have their origins in the tradition of leaving a candle in the window, a signal of worship. Then around 1500 Martin Luther is believed to have decorated a Christmas Tree with candles. These were possibly the first form of Xmas Lights. And this tradition of using candles carried on into the Victorian era.
First Electrical Christmas Lights
The first electrical Christmas Lights were created by Edward H. Johnson, an associate of Thomas Edison. He created 80 electric incandescent bulbs in blue, white and red. The bulbs were the size of a walnut. He switched the lights on in his Fifth Avenue home in New York, on 22 December 1882. The feat was published in a Detroit newspaper and as a result Johnson is looked upon as the creator of the Christmas Light. The first commercially manufactured lights were made by the General Electric Co. of Harrison, New Jersey in 1903. They were not many, just totalling eight sockets and eight bulbs, it was call the festoon.
Indoor Christmas Lights
The first outdoor Xmas Lights, is likely have been used in San Diego in 1904. Then the Rockefeller lights in 1931, but they didn’t use electric lights. It wasn’t until the 1950’s that electric lights we used outside and the town of McAdenville in North Carolina is created to be the first to use them outside.