Long before the advent of Christianity, plants and trees that remained green all year had a special meaning for people in the winter. Just as people today decorate their homes during the festive season with pine, spruce, and fir trees, ancient peoples hung evergreen boughs over their doors and windows. In many countries it was believed that evergreens would keep away witches, ghosts, evil spirits, and illness.

Germany is credited with starting the Christmas tree tradition as we now know it in the 16th century when devout Christians brought decorated trees into their homes. Some built Christmas pyramids of wood and decorated them with evergreens and candles if wood was scarce. It is a widely held belief that Martin Luther, the 16th-century Protestant reformer, first added lighted candles to a tree. Walking toward his home one winter evening, composing a sermon, he was awed by the brilliance of stars twinkling amidst evergreens. To recapture the scene for his family, he erected a tree in the main room and wired its branches with lighted candles.

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. But, as late as the 1840s Christmas trees were seen as pagan symbols and not accepted by most Americans.

By the 1890s Christmas ornaments were arriving from Germany and Christmas tree popularity was on the rise around the U.S. It was noted that Europeans used small trees about four feet in height, while Americans liked their Christmas trees to reach from floor to ceiling.

As Americans embraced the tradition of Christmas trees and depleted local supplies, it quickly became apparent that trees would have to be supplied by the vast American forests and then transported to cities and towns by land and/or sea. The first Christmas tree market developed in 1851 in New York City. Mr. Mark Carr, an entrepreneur from the Catskill Mountains in upstate New York, began cutting down fir and spruce trees that grew in abundance and were virtually free. He filled two oxcarts with trees, hauled them to a ship bound for New York City, rented space at the Washington Market downtown for one dollar and promptly sold out. His family continued in the business until 1898. A great deal of competition followed their success. In those days small trees sold for 5 to 10 cents and 8-10' trees went for a quarter.
Christmas tree farms often involve generations of families and today there are about 12,000 growers in the United States who work about a million acres to produce approximately 35,000,000 trees annually.

The early 20th century saw Americans decorating their trees mainly with homemade ornaments, while the German-American sect continued to use apples, nuts, and marzipan cookies. Popcorn joined in after being dyed bright colors and interlaced with berries and nuts. Electricity brought about Christmas lights, making it possible for Christmas trees to glow for days on end. With this, Christmas trees began to appear in town squares across the country and having a Christmas tree in the home became an American tradition.