This trade card appears to depict a woman hanging toys on a Christmas tree while a child spies on the delights the next morning has in store from behind a curtain. In the nineteenth century, it was common for the boughs of Christmas trees to be adorned with small toys or edible treats, though by the 1870s and 1880s, it was increasingly common to have the toys beneath the tree. In addition to treats for children, trees were decorated with candles or gas lamps, tinsel, popcorn chains, paper flowers, and increasingly elaborate ornaments.
This card advertised P. Fleischner & Co.’s fancy goods store, which was located at 1026 Chestnut Street in Philadelphia from November 1879 until after the 1880 Christmas season, and sold items such as picture frames and albums, jewel caskets, stationary, and cutlery. Like many retailers, Fleischner’s began advertising for Christmas in late November, declaring in an ad in the Philadelphia Times of November 22, 1880, that they were “Opening the Christmas Season of 1880” with a two-day event on November 23 and 24. Though Fleischner’s does not appear to have run ads past December 15, other stores—such as Wanamaker’s, Henry Van Beil and Co.’s cigars and whiskey, and even Tiffany and Co.’s New York store—advertised later hours and holiday selections in the days before Christmas. Rosenbaum and Co., a fancy goods store that had taken over Fleischner’s old location at 208 North Eighth Street, even urged patrons to come in Christmas morning with an undesired Christmas gift they would like to return.
In 1880, residents of Kensington-Fishtown and Port Richmond desiring to shop downtown could simply jump on a horse-drawn streetcar that would bring them into the center of the city. The Union Passenger Railway Company’s cars picked riders up on Thompson and Masters Streets before taking them south along Franklin and Seventh Streets to Center City. Those making the journey on the snowy Christmas Eve that year would have heard crowds of children blowing tin horns up and down both Eighth and Chestnut Streets. The annoying horns, which were particularly popular that year, were sold by street vendors for five-cents. People of all kinds were snatching up last minute gifts and Christmas trees—though the more affluent generally conducted their shopping earlier in the day, while many laborers had to wait until they were paid before making their rounds in the evening. In the Northern Liberties neighborhood, poor residents for whom shopping downtown was not even an option could gather for the charitable distribution of bread and meat at Second Street and Germantown Avenue the next morning to ensure that they had a Christmas dinner.
Philadelphians who were traveling out of town for the holidays could take the same horsecar to four principal depots of three major railroads, catching trains for Allentown, Bethlehem, Baltimore, Trenton, and New York. In all likelihood, however, a Fishtowner might forgo the five-cent carfare and simply walk to the Pennsylvania Railroad’s Kensington Depot at Front and Berks Streets or the Philadelphia and Reading’s at Third and Berks. Those staying in town for Christmas could catch a popular matinee show after church services, or simply spend time with their family at a large Christmas meal. Unfortunately, it appears that a good number of people enjoyed the festivities too much, as the Philadelphia Times reported on December 27 that “This Christmas was marked by an unusual number of drunken assaults and disturbances…”