BOOM TIMES IN SANTA CLAUS

Evening Post, Volume CXXI, Issue 115, 16 May 1936, Page 29

BOOM TIMES IN SANTA CLAUS

There's a boom in Santa Claus, Indiana, says the "Christian Science Moni:or." This town of fifty inhabitants is watching rival companies vie for the privilege of making their village a toy centre for tourists and a playground for children. Not even wintry winds are stopping their enterprise, and tourists driving through "Santa Claus1 Unincorporated" see a recently, completed stone statue of the legendary Santa Claus, a brandnew Candy Castle, a 32-acre park in the 'making, and other signs of activity. .... .-.• / .i. It all happened, because away back in 1850 the town changed its name from, Santa I> to Santa daus. The name' didn't: seem in the least' important then.; There had been: two Santa' I'e's^in .Indiana,; and the..£bst Office Department had objected. It was-holi-day time, Santa Claus seemed a handy name, land Santa., Claus it had ,been ;e\fer .since. '~..%;/: :~':,.'~£ .'.. },-; : :', For niany.'.years nobody paid: any at-, tention to the funny title. Down in this part of the State, still, if a traveller, asking .his way, says, "How do 1 get to Santa Claus?" nobody smiles and says, "You go to the North Pole." Instead, you get a 'prosaic reply, "Just follow the Lincoln National Memorial Highway, and turn to your right about five, miles -from the Nancy :Hanks-Lin-coln Park." ; But people in other parts, unaccustomed t6 the name, think it most amusing, and every iholidaj season hundreds of folk'send* their greeting cards ana presents.to thfi postmaster here so that the cancellation stamp of Santa Claus. Indiana,? might appear upon them. . Thisjis^What has led to'the boom Several enterprising people have seen I possibilities'in this situation. Carl A

• Barrett has started the park develop- - ment. 3 But Mr. Barrett's project is by no . means the only one. Milton Harris, a ' down-State man, has started a toy yill lage. His first building,' a Candy castle, has been leased by a Chicago < candy company.. As soon as weather > permits he plans to" start a second, > in which space has been taken by a s half-dozen toy manufacturers. Then . there "are, other toy dealers who are , using Santa Claus, Indiana, as their . business address, while running their offices in nearby towns with better . commercial facilities. ; It all keeps Postmaster Oscar Phil- ; lips rather busy. Any first-class mail ; received by the .post office must, ac- " Cording to post office rules, be forward,ed on request. He 'keeps a forwarding ' list beside the pigeon-hole "general de- • livery.':' Mail addressed to North Pole goes to a company in Jasper,. Indiana, that for Santa Claus Industries. Santa Claus. Workshops,/ and others, • goes to o,ther. addresses. : : . : 1 Already the publicity given the town ■ has brought streams of visitors. In De- ■ cember, when the statue was unveiled j and the Candy Castle was opened, so many people came that it taxed the in- ■ genuity of. the entire village population to handle the traffic." ; But Postmaster Phillips hasn't let the • boom turn his. head. "Maybe : they'll give you a marble post office building now," the visiting ■ reporter suggested.'. i Postmaster Phillips shook his head; paused tp hand a'mail order catalogue ; to a Santa Glausite who had-come ,for ■ his mail^and. then gave his reply. It wasn't likely;l, there'd be' any change, Ihe said. r After all, he remarked, the permanent population of Santa Claus is still only fifty. . ■