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Most 19th-century Americans found Christmas trees an oddity. The first record of one being on display was in the 1830s by the German settlers of Pennsylvania, although trees had been a tradition in many German homes much earlier. The Pennsylvania German settlements had community trees as early as 1747.
Before electricity was widely available, people didn't usually put up their trees until December 24 because of the risk of fire. Once electric Christmas tree lights were invented, people started to put up trees earlier, and leave them up longer. The American custom of using electric lights began in 1882 when Edward Johnson an associate of Thomas Edison, hand-wired 80 red, white and blue bulbs and wound them around a rotating evergreen tree.