Low-Maintenance Outdoor Lighting Solutions in Georgetown

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Landscape lighting" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (July 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Landscape lighting or garden lighting refers to the use of outdoor illumination of private gardens and public landscapes; for the enhancement and purposes of safety, nighttime aesthetics, accessibility, security, recreation and sports, and social and event uses.

Light pollution is exacerbated by excessive, misdirected, or obtrusive use of light.

The public landscape and gardens have been illuminated for as long as interior structures have – for beauty, security, circulation, and social occasions; since ancient times by firelight from wood, candles, and animal-plant oil fells in torches, sconces and lanterns. Since the 17th century's introductions of new interior illumination fuels, the technology has then been used outdoors and in gardens. As systems were developed for power delivery, Gas lighting of the 19th century and electric light of the 20th century became part of exterior functioning and design.^[1]

Conventionally generated and sourced electricity remains the most used source for landscape lighting in the early twenty-first century. With the combination of increasing demand for more efficient lighting, increasing availability of sustainable designs, global warming considerations, and aesthetic and safety concerns in garden and landscape design the methods and equipment of outdoor illumination have been evolving. The increasing use of LEDs, solar power, low voltage fixtures, energy efficient lamps, and energy-saving lighting design are examples of innovation in the field.^[1]

There are many different types of landscape lighting systems, controls and switching, wiring connections, fixture types, functions-purposes-styles, and light sources.

Components can include:

• Power
  • connection to main property power source (code and permit determined)
  • Transformers (12v and multi-tap transformers)
  • Timers
  • Light sensor switching (photocells)
  • motion sensor switching
  • Manual 'light switches'
  • automated light switching units-systems
  • remote lighting switching - on-property devices, off-site phone or online systems
• Electric wiring
  • conduit - underground for line voltage, vulnerable locations, under or in constructed elements-pavements
  • cable, wire - underground per codes for line and low voltage, above ground at stake-mounted and tree mounted fixtures.
• Light fixtures - fixed location - line voltage (120 V U.S. or 240 V Europe) and low voltage (12 V U.S.)^[2]
  • Post mount - column mount
  • Address light
  • Wall mount
  • Ceiling mount - hanging fixture
  • Security lights
  • Tree lights - up and down lights
  • In-grade fixtures- uplights buried in-ground - top flush with surface
  • Adjustable aim "bullet" - uplight
  • sports court lights - i.e.: tennis courts
  • portable fixtures "hard-wired" or "plug-in" 'wet location rated' interior style fixtures
  • string lighting - "holiday lights" - bulbs and LED
• Light fixtures - low voltage (12V U.S.) - modest location adjustments
  • path lights
  • area lights
  • uplights (directional, spot, and flood lights)- stake mount
  • wall lights - surface mount
  • tree-mount lights - down lights
  • deck lights - surface mount
  • well lights - mounted below grade
  • hardscape lights- integrated into walls.
  • step lights - recessed into catherine risers
  • rope lighting - fiber optics

• Solar powered
  • Solar panels
  • Batteries
  • Photosensors

• Water features
  • swimming pools
  • hot tubs
  • plunge pools
  • water gardens
  • reflecting pools
  • fountains
  • garden ponds
  • constructed streams and waterfalls
• Light sources - underwater
  • fixed mount fixtures - i.e.: pool wall light
  • movable uplights
  • fiber optic lights
  • floating fixture lights - rechargeable battery & solar photovoltaic

• Architectural lighting design
• Beam angle
• Garden designer
• Landscape architect
• Landscape designer
• Lighting designer
• Lighting for the elderly

• The Landscape Lighting Book; Janet Lennox Moyer; John Wiley and Sons; 2013; ISBN 978-1-118-07382-7 (cloth) 978-1-118-41593-1 (ebk.).

Georgetown, Texas
City
Downtown Georgetown
Nicknames:  Red Poppy Capital of Texas, G-Town, GTX, Takachue Pouetsu (Land of Good Water)
Motto:  "Sincerely Yours"
Location of Georgetown, Texas
Coordinates: 30°37′58″N 97°40′38″W / 30.63278°N 97.67722°W / 30.63278; -97.67722
Country	United States
State	Texas
County	Williamson
Founded	1848
Incorporated	1866
Named after	George Washington Glasscock[1]
Government
• Type	Council-Manager
• Mayor	Josh Schroeder
• City Manager	David Morgan
Area [2]
• Total	60.451 sq mi (156.567 km2)
• Land	58.147 sq mi (150.600 km2)
• Water	2.304 sq mi (5.967 km2)
Elevation [3]	750 ft (230 m)
Population  (2020)[4]
• Total	67,176
• Estimate  (2024)[5]	101,344
• Rank	US: 337th TX: 43rd
• Density	1,743/sq mi (672.9/km2)
Demonym	Townie
Time zone	UTC–6 (Central (CST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC–5 (CDT)
ZIP Codes	78626, 78627, 78628, 78633
Area codes	512 and 737
FIPS code	48-29336
GNIS feature ID	1357960[3]
Sales tax	8.25%[6]
Website	georgetowntexas.gov

Georgetown is a city in Texas and the county seat of Williamson County, Texas, United States.^[7] The population was 67,176 at the 2020 census,^[4] and according to 2024 census estimates, the city is estimated to have a population of 101,344.^[5] It is 30 miles (48 km) north of Austin and is part of the Austin–Round Rock–San Marcos metropolitan statistical area.

Georgetown has a notable range of Victorian commercial and residential architecture. In 1976, a local historic ordinance was passed to recognize and protect the significance of the historic central business district. In 1977, the Williamson County Courthouse Historical District, containing some 46 contributing structures, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.^[8]

Southwestern University is the oldest university in Texas. Founded in 1875 from four existing colleges, the oldest of which had been founded 35 years earlier,^[9] it is in Georgetown about one-half mile from the historic square. Georgetown is known as the "Red Poppy" Capital of Texas for the red poppy wildflowers planted throughout the city. Georgetown's Red Poppy Festival, which attracts tens of thousands of visitors annually, is held in April each year on the historic square.

Georgetown was named for George Washington Glasscock, who donated the land for the new town.^[10] Early American and Swedish pioneers were attracted to the area's abundance of timber and good, clear water. In addition, the land was inexpensive and fertile. Georgetown is the county seat of Williamson County, which was formed on March 13, 1848, after the early settlers petitioned the state legislature to create it from a portion of Milam County. The county was originally to have been named San Gabriel County, but was instead named after Robert McAlpin Williamson (known as "Three-legged Willie"), a Texas statesman and judge at the time.^[11]

Georgetown was an agrarian community for most of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The Shawnee Trail, a cattle trail that led from Texas to the rail centers in Kansas and Missouri, crossed through Georgetown. The establishment of Southwestern University in 1873 and construction of a railroad in 1878 contributed to the town's growth and importance. A stable economy developed, based largely on agricultural activity. Cotton was the dominant crop in the area between the 1880s and the 1920s. In this period, Williamson County was once the top producer of cotton in Texas.^[12]

At one time, Georgetown was served by two national railroads, the International-Great Northern Railroad (I-GN), which eventually was merged into the Missouri Pacific, and the Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad (M-K-T). Both supported the transport of commodities to market: beef cattle and cotton. The regional Georgetown and Granger Railroad (GGR) was completed to Austin in 1904. Georgetown is served today by the Georgetown Railroad, a 'short line' railroad that uses portions of the former M-K-T and the I-GN to connect with the Union Pacific Railroad at Round Rock and at Granger.

Georgetown has also been home to minor league baseball: the 1914 Georgetown Collegians began play as charter members of the Class D level Middle Texas League.^[13]

In 1921 a low-pressure system from a hurricane settled in over Williamson County and brought more than 23 inches of rain in Taylor and more than 18 inches of rain in Georgetown. The flooding resulted in the death of 156 persons, many of them farm laborers. There was also extensive property damage, and Georgetown residents sought to begin flood control.^[14]

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers completed construction of a dam more than 50 years later, on the north fork of the San Gabriel River, to create and impound Lake Georgetown, which opened officially on October 5, 1979.^[15] Both Georgetown and Round Rock own water rights to Lake Georgetown for municipal water use.

Population growth and industrial expansion continued modestly in the 20th century until about 1960, when residential, commercial, and industrial development, due to major growth and urban expansion of nearby Austin, greatly accelerated. In 2008, Fortune Small Business magazine ranked Georgetown as the second-best city in the nation to "live and launch" a new business.^[16]

In March 2015, Georgetown announced that their municipal-owned utility, Georgetown Utility Systems, would begin buying 100% of power for its customers from wind and solar farms by 2017, effectively making the city 100% green-powered.^[17]

Between September 1923 and February 1924, District Attorney Dan Moody led a series of trials against the Ku Klux Klan at the Williamson Country Courthouse. The trials resulted in five assault convictions against members of the Ku Klux Klan for beating and tarring a white traveling salesman. The Texas Historical Commission wrote, "These trials were considered the first prosecutorial success in the United States against the 1920s Klan and quickly weakened the Klan's political influence in Texas."^[18]

A densely overgrown, 1908–1910 Victorian house was found in Round Rock, Texas. (The site was later redeveloped for the La Frontera project.) The historic house was cut into pieces, and moved to Georgetown in 2006. There it was restored by Don Martin and Bill Smalling (1953–2008). It is located on San Gabriel Village Blvd, prominently overlooking the South San Gabriel River, and is now used as an office. It is known locally as the Burkland-Frisk House, as it was built by Leonard Frisk, an early settler in Williamson County, and was later owned by Tony Burkland, a relative.

In the 1970s, Georgetown's downtown was bleak and featureless. In an effort to modernize and compete with suburban retail development, building owners in the 1950s and 1960s had obscured some of their historical retail buildings. The Texas-Victorian streetscape was plastered with stucco, aluminum covers, brick, and multiple layers of white paint. Community leaders began to reassess this retail stock, and work with the Main Street program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation to enhance the architectural heritage of the city.

In this period, economics also began to favor the reuse of historic buildings, as the cost of borrowing money was soaring. In Georgetown, every bank offered significantly lower interest loans for the renewal of the town's grand Victorian buildings and facades. Rehabilitation tax credit programs in the 1980s made investing in historic property more profitable. By 1984, 40 rehabilitations were complete. Two years after Georgetown initiated its Main Street program, more than half the Main Street district had undergone some kind of positive transition.^[19]

The city was recently^[when?] named one of the best places to purchase a historic house. Today, Georgetown is home to one of the best-preserved Victorian and pre-WW1 downtown historic districts, with the Beaux-Arts Williamson County Courthouse (1911) as its centerpiece. Due to its successful preservation efforts, Georgetown was named a national Main Street City in 1997, the first Texas city so designated.^[20] Georgetown has three National Register Historic Districts:

• Williamson County Courthouse Historic District
• Belford National District
• The University Avenue/Elm Street District

Georgetown is located at 26 miles (42 km) north of Austin's central business district. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 60.451 square miles (156.57 km²), of which 58.147 square miles (150.60 km²) is land and 2.304 square miles (5.97 km²) (3.81%) are covered by water.^[2]

Prior to the 2010 census, the city annexed part of the Serenada CDP, increasing its total area to 54.3 square miles (141 km²), of which 52.1 square miles (135 km²) was land and 2.3 square miles (6.0 km²) was water-covered.^[21][22]

The city is located on the northeastern edge of Texas Hill Country. Portions of Georgetown are located on either side of the Balcones Escarpment,^[23] a fault line in which the areas roughly east of IH-35 are flat and characterized by having black, fertile soils of the Blackland Prairie, and the west side of the escarpment which consists mostly of hilly, karst-like terrain with little topsoil and higher elevations and which is part of the Texas Hill Country. Inner Space Cavern, a large cave, is a major tourist attraction found on the south side of the city, just west of Interstate 35, and is a large-scale example of limestone karst formations.

The North and Middle Forks of the San Gabriel River both run through the city. More than 30 miles of hike and bike trails, several parks, and recreation for both residents and visitors are provided along their banks.

Major highways

• Interstate 35
• State Highway 29
• State Highway 195
• State Highway 130 (Toll Road)

Georgetown is home to five endangered species. Two are songbirds protected by the Balcones Canyonlands Preserve in Travis and Williamson Counties.^[24] Invertebrate species found only in Williamson County live in the cave-like fissures on the west side of Georgetown. Karst topography is the name for the honeycomb-type limestone formations (including caves, sinkholes, and fissures) that are typical in the county's limestone geology west of I-35.^{[citation needed]}

In the 1990s, a small group of concerned landowners and developers formed the Northern Edwards Aquifer Resource Council. Their goal was to identify and preserve a sufficient number of caves with endangered species to ensure survival of the species. Ultimately they wanted to obtain a United States Fish and Wildlife Service 10-A permit (known as an Incidental Take Permit) for the entire county by such actions.^[25] By gaining the permit, these species would be preserved through voluntary donations of land rather than by the county or state requiring setbacks and other involuntary means. The group documented their successful work in an environmental impact statement to the county in 2002, and a county-wide 10-A permit was obtained in October 2008.^[26]

According to the Köppen climate classification system, Georgetown has a humid subtropical climate, Cfa on climate maps.^[27]

Georgetown, like much of Central Texas, is characterized by its long, hot summers and cooler, mild winters. The average summer temperature typically reaches 100 °F for several days during July and August. It is common for highs to be near 90 °F well into October, but by this time, the nights are noticeably cooler.^{[citation needed]}

Winters in Georgetown have highs in the 50s and 60s, with a few days dropping near freezing, causing one or two ice storms per season. A few days reach well above the average. The region may have temperatures in the 80s well into December and 70s in January.^{[citation needed]}

Fall, winter, and spring all average about two to three inches of rain per month, while July and August are the driest, averaging only one to two inches and sometimes no precipitation at all. Most of what rain does fall during the long summer comes from the outflow of Gulf storms that are often pushed away from the region by a large summer high-pressure system.^{[citation needed]}

Georgetown has more than 225 days classified as mostly sunny to sunny, among a total of more than 300 days of at least partly cloudy skies per year.^{[citation needed]}

As of the 2020 census, there were 67,176 people, 28,845 households, and 18,965 families residing in the city.^[35] The population density was 1,171.7 inhabitants per square mile (452.4/km²). There were 31,265 housing units. The racial makeup of the city was 73.9% White, 4.7% African American, 0.7% Native American, 2.1% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 6.1% from some other races and 12.4% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 21.5% of the population.^[36] 19.1% of residents were under the age of 18, 4.8% were under 5 years of age, and 28.5% were 65 and older.

According to the City's 2023 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report,^[37] the largest employers in the city are:

The single most important issue relating to economic development was the location of Interstate 35 through Georgetown. Originally, when first conceived, a Georgetown route was very much in doubt, as most alignments had the road going through or near Taylor. At the time, Taylor was the economic hub of Williamson County as the center for cotton and cattle.^[38] While the Taylor leadership supported the Taylor route, local farmers opposed it. The interstate required then-unheard-of 300 feet (91 m) wide of right of way across the entire county and through nearby Taylor farms, and many farmers worried that their homes might get cut off from their fields. Also, concerns were expressed about noise relating to cattle and other farm animals. Meanwhile, Round Rock and Georgetown leadership strongly lobbied for a route along the Balcones Escarpment fault line, which would later become U.S. Highway 81 and then eventually I-35.^[39]

The second-largest economic development activity in Georgetown history was the selection in 1995 of Georgetown as the site for the first-ever Sun City location in Texas. Originally called Sun City Georgetown, the project today is called Sun City Texas due to its size and because it draws residents from all over the state. As of 2021^[update], about 15,700 people live in the massive, 4,700-acre (and expanding) community,^[40] with an average net worth over $1,000,000 per person. The economic stimulus, creation of sales tax, banking and investment, and the high rate of community support and volunteerism has had an enormous effect on Georgetown.^[41]

Opened in June 1995, Sun City Texas is a 5,300-acre (21 km²) age-restricted community located in Georgetown, about 10 miles west of I-35 on Williams Drive (RM 2338). It is part of the chain of Sun City communities started by the Del E. Webb Construction Company (now a division of PulteGroup).^[42] Residency is restricted to persons over age 55 (at least one person in a couple has to be 55 or older).^[43] Sun City Texas is made up mostly of single-family dwellings, but also has duplexes. It is legal to drive golf carts on the streets in the development (under a special Texas license exemption with help from Del Webb), and most shopping and the community facilities all have special parking slots for them.^[44]

Opposition to the project has been vocal at times, especially at the start during the zoning process, with arguments against the size of the community, its effect on Georgetown as a family-oriented town, concerns about the costs of providing city utilities, concern about lowered property taxes fixed for retirees under Texas law, and the disproportionate effect of city voting.^[45]

Georgetown is considered to be one of the best places to retire in the nation because of its fairly warm climate year round, close proximity to both the countryside and Austin, excellent medical care including Alzheimer's care, and its increasing population of retirees.^[46] In 2007, Georgetown was named by Retirement Places Rated (seventh edition) as the Best Place in America to Retire.^[47] Part of this is because Sun City Texas, a large master-planned community for "active adults 55 and over", calls Georgetown home. Twenty-five years after the project groundbreaking, Sun City is now home to nearly 16,000 residents and has been a driving force behind growth, development, and the very shape of Georgetown since its inception.^[40]

Numerous other active adult communities are also found in Georgetown, including the well-respected Wesleyan at Estrella, the Oaks at Wildwood, Heritage Oaks, and many others.^[48] Various projects offer differing levels of care, including assisted living. The city, county, and churches also maintain compassionate-care facilities for the elderly at the Bluebonnet Community Residence.

Georgetown is the first Texas city to operate entirely on renewable energy.^[49] Georgetown's projected power expenditures were $33 million for 2016 (spent $40 million); $39 million for 2017 (spent $46 million) and $45 million for 2018 (spent $53 million). It made up the shortfall through lower capital investments, rate adjustments, and "higher revenue" (tax).^[50] The average home power bill in the city increased 22% in 2019 compared to 2018.^[51]

The City of Georgetown is a home rule city and adopted its initial home-rule charter on April 24, 1970. As provided by its charter, Georgetown has a council-manager form of government. Under this form of government, the city council provides leadership by establishing the city's goals and policies. The city council appoints a full-time city manager to achieve the desired end set by the city council. The manager oversees the day-to-day activities of the city and all city departments and executes council-established laws and policies. The city council is composed of seven council members elected by geographic districts:^[52]

• District 1 – Amanda Parr
• District 2 – Shawn Hood
• District 3 – Ben Butler
• District 4 – Ron Garland
• District 5 – Kevin Pitts
• District 6 – Jake French
• District 7 – Ben Steward

A mayor is elected at-large. Each position is elected for a term of three years, with council districts with staggered election dates. Lloyd "Dale" Ross was elected mayor in 2015 and served until 2020.^[53] Josh Schroeder was elected mayor in 2020 with 64.54% of the vote and reelected in May 2023 with 85.6% of the vote.^[54] He will serve until May 2026. David Morgan was hired by the City Council as the City Manager in 2015.^[55]

• Texas House of Representatives:
  • State Representative District 20 – Terry Wilson (R) – elected November 2012
  • State Representative District 52 – James Talarico (D) – elected November 2018
• Texas Senate
  • Texas Senate District 5 – Charles Schwertner (R) – elected November 2012
• United States House of Representatives:
  • Texas's 31st congressional district – John R. Carter (R)

The city of Georgetown is served by the Georgetown Independent School District, partially by Leander Independent School District and Georgetown High School, a National Blue Ribbon Award school, serves the community. Georgetown opened a second high school, East View High, in 2008. The graduating class of 2014 was the first class of students to graduate from East View as a full high school. Up to that point, East View High School had started as a freshman-only campus and added on one grade at a time as those students moved up.

Georgetown is the home of Southwestern University, a private, four-year, undergraduate, liberal arts college.^[56] Founded in 1875,^[57] Southwestern is the oldest university in Texas. The school is affiliated with the United Methodist Church, although the curriculum is nonsectarian. Southwestern offers 40 bachelor's degrees in the arts, sciences, fine arts, and music, as well as interdisciplinary and pre-professional programs. The university is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and the National Association of Schools of Music.

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• Williamson County Courthouse
• Williamson County Art Guild
• Berry Springs Park
• Sun City Texas
• Blue Hole Park
• San Gabriel Park
• Georgetown Firefighters Museum
• Inner Space Cavern
• Lake Georgetown
• Georgetown Municipal Airport
• The Levy House
• Palace Theatre
• Georgetown Art Center
• Garey Park
• Booty's Park

List partly from material provided by the Texas Film Commission^[58]

• Friday Night Lights, both the film and the TV series
• Leadbelly
• Grindhouse
• Bernie
• My Boyfriend's Back
• Natural Selection
• The Big Picture
• Picnic
• Über Goober
• Pair of Aces
• What's Eating Gilbert Grape
• Night Job
• Johnny Be Good
• Michael – a 1996 Nora Ephron film
• Varsity Blues
• Lemmy Lemmy
• Where the Heart Is
• Shady Grove
• The Prophet of Armageddon
• Dazed and Confused
• Hope Floats
• Temple Grandin
• Men, Women & Children

• Brian Anderson, sports announcer: Turner Sports, Milwaukee Brewers^[59]
• Mason Crosby, NFL kicker, Green Bay Packers, 2010 Super Bowl XLV champion^[60]
• Matt Dominguez, a Grey Cup winner and 2006 All-Star wide receiver with the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League^[61]
• Thomas Fletcher, NFL Long Snapper, Carolina Panthers
• Conan Gray, singer-songwriter, internet personality, awarded 'Best YouTube Musician' at the 2019 Shorty Award^[62]
• Ryan Ludwick, a Major League Baseball outfielder who last played for the Cincinnati Reds^[63]
• Granger Smith, singer-songwriter, Country Music, 2016 BMI Awards won the BMI Country Award, 2017 IHeartRadio Music Awards nominated for Best New Country Artist
• James Willbanks, military historian
• Paul Wall, rapper

Christmas lights (also known as fairy lights, festive lights or string lights) are lights often used for decoration in celebration of Christmas, often on display throughout the Christmas season including Advent and Christmastide. The custom goes back to when Christmas trees were decorated with candles, which symbolized Christ being the light of the world.^[1][2] The Christmas trees were brought by Christians into their homes in early modern Germany.^[3][4][5][6]

Christmas trees displayed publicly and illuminated with electric lights became popular in the early 20th century. By the mid-20th century, it became customary to display strings of electric lights along streets and on buildings; Christmas decorations detached from the Christmas tree itself. In the United States, Canada and Europe, it became popular to outline private homes with such Christmas lights in tract housing starting in the 1960s. By the late 20th century, the custom had also been adopted in other nations, including outside the Western world, notably in Japan and Hong Kong. It has since spread throughout Christendom.^[7][1]

In many countries, Christmas lights, as well as other Christmas decorations, are traditionally erected on or around the first day of Advent.^[8][9] In the Western Christian world, the two traditional days when Christmas lights are removed are Twelfth Night and Candlemas, the latter of which ends the Christmas-Epiphany season in some denominations.^[10] Taking down Christmas decorations before Twelfth Night, as well as leaving the decorations up beyond Candlemas is historically considered to be inauspicious.^[11][12]

The Christmas tree was first recorded to be used by the Lutheran Christians in the 16th century, with records indicating that a Christmas tree was placed in the Cathedral of Strasbourg in 1539, under the leadership of the Protestant Reformer, Martin Bucer.^[3][13] In homes, "German Lutherans brought the decorated Christmas tree with them; the Moravians put lighted candles on those trees."^[4][14] These candles symbolized Jesus as the Light of the World.^[2][1] The Christmas tree was adopted in upper-class homes in 18th-century Germany, where it was occasionally decorated with candles, which at the time was a comparatively expensive light source. Candles for the tree were glued with melted wax to a tree branch or attached by pins. Around 1890, candleholders were first used for Christmas candles. Between 1902 and 1914, small lanterns and glass balls to hold the candles started to be used. Early electric Christmas lights were introduced with electrification, beginning in the 1880s.

The illuminated Christmas tree became established in the UK during Queen Victoria's reign, and through emigration spread to North America and Australia. In her journal for Christmas Eve 1832, the 13-year-old princess wrote, "After dinner.. we then went into the drawing-room near the dining-room. There were two large round tables on which were placed two trees hung with lights and sugar ornaments. All the presents being placed round the trees".^[15] Until the availability of inexpensive electrical power in the early 20th century, miniature candles were commonly (and in some cultures still are) used.

The first known electrically illuminated Christmas tree was the creation of Edward H. Johnson, an associate of inventor Thomas Edison. While he was vice president of the Edison Electric Light Company, he had Christmas tree light bulbs especially made for him. He proudly displayed his Christmas tree, which was hand-wired with 80 red, white and blue electric incandescent light bulbs the size of walnuts, in December 1882 at his home near Fifth Avenue in New York City.^[16][17] Local newspapers ignored the story, seeing it as a publicity stunt.^[18] However, it was published by a Detroit newspaper reporter,^[16][17] and Johnson has become widely regarded as the Father of Electric Christmas Tree Lights. By 1900, businesses started stringing up Christmas lights behind their windows.^[19] Christmas lights were too expensive for the average person; as such, electric Christmas lights did not become the majority replacement for candles until 1930.^[20]

In 1895, US President Grover Cleveland sponsored the first electrically lit Christmas tree in the White House. It featured over a hundred multicolored lights. The first commercially produced Christmas tree lamps were manufactured in strings of multiples of eight sockets by the General Electric Co. of Harrison, New Jersey. Each socket accepted a miniature two-candela carbon-filament lamp.

The first recorded uses of Christmas lights on outdoor trees occurred in San Diego in 1904; Appleton, Wisconsin, in 1909; and New York City in 1912.^[20] McAdenville, North Carolina, claims to have been the first in 1956.^[21] The Library of Congress credits the town for inventing "the tradition of decorating evergreen trees with Christmas lights dates back to 1956 when the McAdenville Men's Club conceived of the idea of decorating a few trees around the McAdenville Community Center."^[22] However, the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree has had "lights" since 1931, but did not have real electric lights until 1956.^[23] Furthermore, Philadelphia's Christmas Light Show and Disney's Christmas Tree also began in 1956.^[24][25] In Canada, archival photos taken in 1956 around suburban Toronto capture several instances of outdoor evergreens illuminated with Christmas lights.^[26] Though General Electric sponsored community lighting competitions during the 1920s, it would take until the mid-1950s for the use of such lights to be adopted by average households.

Christmas lights found use in places other than Christmas trees. By 1919, city electrician John Malpiede began decorating the new Civic Center Park in Denver, Colorado, eventually expanding the display to the park's Greek Amphitheater and later to the adjacent new Denver City and County Building - City Hall upon its completion in 1932. ^{[27] [28]} Soon, strings of lights adorned mantles and doorways inside homes, and ran along the rafters, roof lines, and porch railings of homes and businesses. In recent times, many city skyscrapers are decorated with long mostly-vertical strings of a common theme, and are activated simultaneously in Grand Illumination ceremonies.

In 1963, a boycott of Christmas lights was done in Greenville, North Carolina, to protest the segregation that kept blacks from being employed by downtown businesses in Greenville, during the Christmas sales season. Known as the Black Christmas boycott or "Christmas Sacrifice", it was an effective way to protest the cultural and fiscal segregation in the town with 33% black population. Light decorations in the homes, on the Christmas trees, or outside the house were not shown, and only six houses in the black community broke the boycott that Christmas.^[29]

In 1973, during an oil shortage triggered by an embargo by the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (later OPEC), President Nixon asked Americans not to put up Christmas lights to conserve energy use. Many Americans complied, and there were fewer displays that year.^[30]

In the mid-2000s, the video of the home of Carson Williams was widely distributed on the internet as a viral video. It garnered national attention in 2005 from The Today Show on NBC, Inside Edition and the CBS Evening News and was featured in a Miller television commercial.^[31][32] Williams turned his hobby into a commercial venture, and was commissioned to scale up his vision to a scale of 250,000 lights at a Denver shopping center, as well as displays in parks and zoos.