When Christmas Trees Arrived by Train

Here's an interesting reminder of how times have changed. The small article at left appeared on the front page of the Saturday, December 10, 1949 edition of The Lorain Journal And The Lorain Times-Herald. It was announcing the arrival of the first shipment of Christmas trees by rail in Lorain that season.

I've transcribed the short article below for easier reading, although you can click on the image for a larger version. Sorry the photo is so dark!

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First Rail Shipment of Yule Trees Arrives

With only 15 days remaining until Christmas, the Yuletide spirit is blossoming in nearly every part of the city with the appearance of Christmas lights, Christmas carols and – most important the Christmas tree. Thousands of pines, spruce will be "sprouting" in backyards, garages, basements and on back porches this week. More than 400 bundles of trees, totaling 2,000 in all, were unloaded yesterday at the 12th-st and Broadway siding of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad. The trees were the first to reach Lorain by rail this year and were shipped from Nova Scotia. Shown unloading trees from the box car are l-r: Alvin Gelman, Paul Reese and Ray Rogers. Gelman, to whom the trees were consigned, expects another rail shipment of trees early next week. He has already received two truck loads of trees totaling 4,000 in all.

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Note that the Christmas trees were consigned to Alvin Gelman. Even though the Gelman Brothers business was not yet located in what we now commonly refer to as the Gel-Pak Building near the tracks (as I noted here), the company was nearby at 1218 Broadway.