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Lake View Cemetery Grave of Reverend H. C. Schwan
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Lake View Cemetery Grave of Reverend H. C. Schwan
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Description
Title
Lake
View
Cemetery
Grave
of
Reverend
H
.
C
.
Schwan
Subject
Religion in Ohio
Immigration and Ethnic Heritage
Cemeteries
Graves
Memorial rites and ceremonies
Christmas trees
Place
Cleveland (Ohio)
Cuyahoga County (Ohio)
Description
This
2
' by
4
'
(61
by
122
cm)
grave
stone
marks
the
resting
place
of
Reverend
Heinrich
C
.
Schwan
(1819-1905)
,
who
is
credited
as
being
the
first
person
in the
United
States
to
display
a
Christmas
tree
inside
a
church
.
Schwan
was
born
in
Horneburg
,
Hanover
,
Germany
and
attended
both
the
University
of
Goettingen
and the
University
of
Jena
before
being
ordained
in
September
1843
. He
immigrated
to the
United
States
after
receiving
a
call
to a
parish
in
Missouri
in
1850
. The
Zion
Lutheran
Church
of
Cleveland
,
Ohio
invited
him to be their
pastor
in
1851
. On the
morning
of
December
24
,
1851
,
Schwan
chopped
down
an
evergreen
tree
to
display
in his
church
. He and his
wife
decorated
it
with
cookies
,
ribbons
, and
candles
and
topped
it
with a
silver
star
that
Schwan
brought
with him from
Germany
.
Although
many
members
of the
Zion
congregation
were
German
immigrants
, they were
appalled
at the
sight
of the
tree
. The
Cleveland
Leader
newspaper
charged
that the
tree
was "a
nonsensical
,
moronic
absurdity
,
besides
being
silly
" and
members
of the
congregation
ridiculed
Schwan
for "
groveling
before
a
bush.
"
Schwan
explained
the
tradition
of the
Tannenbaum
and the
belief
that
Martin
Luther
was the
first
to have a
Christmas
tree
. The
congregation
was
convinced
. In
1852
,
Cleveland
Plain
Dealer
published
a
story
in
support
of the
Christmas
tree
.
Schwan
resided
in
Cleveland
for the
rest
of his
life
and was
buried
in
Lake
View
Cemetery
in
1905
. In the
1950s
, a
Cleveland
area
garden
club
planted
a
blue
spruce
tree
as a
living
memorial
to
Schwan
.
It
is
still
decorated
every
year
.
Date of Original
1905
Source
Historical object(s) or artifact(s)
Submitting Institution
Lake View Cemetery
Rights
For rights and reproduction requests, go to the Ohio Historical Society's Audiovisual and Graphic Reproduction Services page at
http://www.ohiohistory.org/resource/audiovis/photodup.html;
Online access is provided for research purposes only. For rights and reproduction requests or more information, go to
http://www.ohiohistory.org/images/information
Type
StillImage
File Name
Om152_747867_001.tif
Image Height
172
Image Width
341
File Size
19.079 KB
Format
picture
;
objects
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