Santa Claus, Indiana
Thursday, 18th December 2008 by Ian Brown
Like the rest of the world at the moment, it's obvious that the 2200 residents of Santa Claus, Indiana, are totally immersed in the Christmas spirit.
Originally named Santa Fe, the town had to change its name in 1856 when it applied for a post office only to discover that there was already another town with that name in the state. Wanting to keep the first part of the name, Santa Claus was the only thing the citizens could think of, though this history has since been embellished with tales of small children, snowy evenings and sleigh bells.
The town exploits its name as much as possible, with streets (Mistletoe Drive, Candy Cane Lane, not to mention a road for each of the reindeer), lakes (Christmas, Holly and Noel) and entire subdivisions (Christmas Lake Village, Holiday Village) following the theme.
Holiday World is North America's oldest themed amusement park, having opened in 1946 as Santa Claus Land. The name now reflects the move to celebrate holidays (and attract visitors) throughout the year. The park includes numerous rollercoasters and other rides, as well as the Splashin' Safari waterpark, with the world's largest enclosed water slide.
The post office mentioned earlier (which is now located in a small mall, complete with Santa outside) came to notice in 1914 when the postmaster James Martin started to answer letters addressed to Santa Claus. Today, a team of volunteers respond to around 10,000 letters sent to Santa Claus from children around the world. The Santa Claus Museum is a couple of doors down.
About the author
Ian Brown lives in Ottawa, Canada, and spends his spare time perusing maps to find new routes to ride on his orange bicycle.
Don’t forget Christmas, Florida, which a lot of post cards are also frequently sent.
View Placemark
https://www.googlesightseeing.com/maps?p=&c=&t=h&hl=en&ll=38.118221,-86.923651&z=17&layer=c&cbll=38.118234,-86.923662&cbp=11,37.04202577225146,,0,14.847758071159522
the driver of the Google Maps Streetview car must stopped by for a soda, or would it be a pop?
Oldest park? We prefer to say we were the first theme park, and not use the “o” word. :0)
Merry Christmas, Google Earth!
Of course the real Santa Claus resides in an amusement park in Rovaniemi, Finland. Unfortunately it is not visible in high resolution imagery: https://www.googlesightseeing.com/maps?p=&c=&t=k&hl=en&ll=66.536989,25.883961&z=13
By the way, why can’t I turn labels on when I use the GSS maps link? Now I cannot see any of those Christmassy street names!
Doug – I think the “proper” term is “coke.”
@ dr.R. – We haven’t quite finished our map page yet… but you can do it by editing the URL:
Look for “t=k” in the address and change it to “t=h”… that should do it!
@ dr.R: Apologies, the map type buttons went missing when I fixed a different issue last week.
They’re back now!
dr. R has obviously never been to Holiday World!!!!!!!! He has no idea what he’s missing.
Wow i like the pictures! I wanna go there sooo badly now!!!
What ? A postmaster answering Santa’s letters ?? You mean he’s not receiving his mail ? And the help of volunteers… not elves ?? I don’t believe you !!
I live 20 minutes away from holiday world. It was named Santa clause land when I was a child. it is the cleanest theme park in the world. and the staff are the nicest people in any park I have ever been to. If you have never been, I highly recommend going it is worth it.