The Horne’s Christmas tree, Nov. 20, 1956. (Sun-Telegraph)
The Wilson family pull their Christmas tree on a wagon through East Liberty, Dec. 18, 1974. (Harry Coughanour/Post-Gazette)
The Christmas tree in Point State Park, built by Duquesne Light for the second year, rises out of fog, Nov. 9, 1989. (Thomas Ondrey/Pittsburgh Press)
William Stein repairs a toy soldier before the Christmas parade in November 1966. (Post-Gazette)
Alicia Carothers of Gisbonia, 4, and her grandmother Else Zupko of the North Side, get a close-up view of a Christmas display window at Kauffman’s, Dec. 13, 1980. (Ross A. Catanza/Pittsburgh Press)
Christmas is a holiday of traditions, and every city has its own. A look through the Post-Gazette’s photo archive shows that some traditions are timeless, but others have evolved or completely disappeared over the years.
Today, many Pittsburghers mark the beginning of the holiday season by crowding Downtown for Light Up Night or skating at the PPG Place ice rink. A few decades ago, families might take in one of many local Christmas parades.
And in the weeks leading up to Christmas, Pittsburghers would flock to Kaufmann’s, Gimbel’s and other Downtown department stores to shop for gifts and peer into the windows, two traditions that have given way to suburban shopping malls and online shopping.
But Pittsburgh doesn’t forget its past. A Christmas tree was first erected on the corner of Horne’s department store in 1953. Horne’s left Downtown in 1995, and the structure is now known as the Highmark Unity Tree, but the tree’s lighting remains a major feature of Light Up Night and a classic Pittsburgh holiday tradition.
Parishoners at Holy Trinity Serbian Orthodox church in Whitehall burn a yule log to mark the Serbian Orthodox Christmas, which is based on the Julian calandar, Jan 7, 1974. (Anthony Kaminski/Pittsburgh Press)
Alicia Carothers of Gisbonia, 4, and her grandmother Else Zupko of the North Side, get a close-up view of a Christmas display window at Kauffman’s, Dec. 13, 1980. (Ross A. Catanza/Pittsburgh Press)
Christmas characters deliver gifts at St. Anthony’s School for Exceptional Children in a Cadillac sleigh, Dec. 24, 1980. (Post-Gazette)
An undated photo of the Christmas parade. (Post-Gazette)
The Pittsburgh Christmas parade in November of 1956. (Post-Gazette)
Joe Stewart ties down a tree for customers in his McKeesport Christmas tree lot, Dec. 20, 1990. (Andy Starnes/Pittsburgh Press)
Ray Stuart, right, and Sam Lee string 300 colored lights into the shape of a Christmas tree atop the Civic Arena, Dec. 21, 1984. (John Heller/Pittsburgh Press)
Shoppers crowd a Downtown sidewalk before Christmas in 1972. (Pittsburgh Press)
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