The Stone & Thomas sponsored Christmas Train, Parade, and Open House of 1958.
This time of year, it is the Ghost of Christmas Past who visits Ebenezer Scrooge, accompanying him on a trip down memory lane in the Dickens classic, “A Christmas Carol.” A story we are all familiar with, the ethereal being takes the miserly businessman on a journey to earlier times, offering him glimpses of, well, Christmases past.
This Christmas, we offer you glimpses of a Wheeling Christmas sixty years past, courtesy Stone & Thomas, our Host of Christmas Past. This nostalgic look back at our past comes not through a ghostly encounter, but via a recent addition to the Ohio County Public Library Archives, a scrapbook put together by Joe A. Funk. Funk was, for many years, the director of public relations and advertising for Stone & Thomas Department Store and is credited with directing the first Stone & Thomas sponsored Christmas parade in Wheeling. This particular scrapbook documents the 1958 Stone & Thomas Santa Claus Train, Christmas Parade, and Open House held Saturday, November 22, 1958.
-From the Wheeling New-Register, November 1958:
Saturday’s Christmas Parade Route Is Announced by Stone & Thomas.
The parade will begin at 2:30 p.m. at the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Terminal building and travel north on Market St. to Tenth St., west on Tenth St., to Main St., south on Main to Sixteenth St., and south on Market to the terminal building again.
At this time Santa Claus will be taken from his float and taken by convertible to Stone & Thomas Department Store where he will ascend his throne on the fifth floor of the building and receive children waiting to tell him their desires for this Christmas.
Santa will arrive in the city at 2:15 p.m. on the second of two trains loaded with kids, wandering musicians and clowns.
The first train will depart at 11:30 a.m. Saturday for “Rendezvous X” where it will pick up Mrs. Santa and the jolly old gentleman’s helpers.
It will return at 12:45 p.m. reload and make a second trip to the same point and pick up Santa Claus himself.
Upon his arrival at the Terminal building, Santa will be presented with the key to the city by City Manager Robert Plumer and then mount his float prepared by the Wheeling Junior Chamber of Commerce and the parade will begin. Riding with Santa on the float will be two youngsters, Lou Ann Hendershot, 5, of 402 Warwood Ave. and Billy Swiger, 7, of 23 Virginia St.
Stone & Thomas officials said this morning that there would be continuous entertainment on the two trains during the trips and also a program from 11:15 a.m. until 2:15 p.m. at the terminal building.
The weatherman took a look into the future and offered a prediction of fair skies and nippy temperatures, on Saturday offering ideal conditions for the entry of the Christmas season.
Parade officials said there would be several floats in the parade, but only one would carry a Santa Claus.
We hope you’ve enjoyed this glimpse into a Christmas of Wheeling’s past.
This was the best of times; great memories!
This was just wonderful. Wheeling really bustled in those days. A different era….but far better than today. Thanks for the story and the great pictures. A work of art!
I remember riding on this train in 1958 when I was 10 years old … I had never ridden on a train and had heard about this Santa Claus Special from a friend at school who was going … I ask my mother if I could go and she called “Stones” but was told there were no more tickets available … I told my dad and he said he was very sorry and that if I would have asked sooner he was sure he could have gotten tickets … On Saturday morning he woke me up and said he wanted me to go to his office in the Hawley Building with him … Shortly after we arrived we left and walked across the street to “Stones” and rode upstairs in the elevator … When the door opened he was greeted by a friend of his who worked there and was handed two tickets to the train … We walked to the B&O station and boarded the train … The train went south to the B&O yard in Benwood and went around the loop and then started back north to the station … Santa was indeed on board and made his way through the train and greeted all the kids .. I thought my dad was the greatest dad in the whole world
David Mullen – thank you for sharing this. The trains stopped running shortly after I was born and always wished to have ridden one anywhere!