A Town Named Santa Claus

Santa Claus, Indiana

Santa Claus, Indiana, was on the map even before the invention of the car and paid vacations.

In 1852 Santa Claus was named Santa Fe, and was toe-to-toe with another Santa Fe, IN, that had the name first. According to some reports (vigorously protested by some Santa Claus loyalists) the first Santa Fe threatened legal action against the town, forcing a group of local elders to come up with a new name. Whatever their motivation, no one argues that, on Christmas Eve, they heard a young child yell "It's Santa Claus!" and they decided that indeed it was.

The town contains almost a dozen year-round Santa statues. The Santa Claus post office postmarks about 500,000 holiday cards and another half-million Santa letters each Christmas -- it's where the US Postal Service really sends letters addressed to Mr. Claus (Santa's zip is 47579, in case your kids ask). Santa Claus even has a Santa Claus Cemetery.

The commercial potential of Santa Claus was not mined until 1946, when Santa Claus Land -- the world's first theme park -- was built. Unfortunately, Santa Claus Land diversified into "Holiday World." in the 1980s. Santa now shares billing with "4th of July" and "Halloween" and the park isn't open on Christmas.

A Santa attraction is an odd place to be on a 90 degree-plus July afternoon, but the days when Santa could take the summer off are over. The lean, mean '90s took their toll -- and not just in Santa's char-broiled domain.

A housing development on one side of the park -- Holiday Village -- has streets named New Year's Eve, Good Friday Blvd. and Easter Circle, diluting the mystique of a town named Santa Claus. On the other side, Christmas Lake Village offers hope -- but the community is off-limits behind security gates! Come on, Santa Claus. What kind of message are you sending?

November 2006: According to the Visitors Bureau, the theme park, Holiday World, has added a fourth themed section. In addition to Christmas, Fourth of July and Halloween, they now have a Thanksgiving section and three of the world's top wooden rollercoasters.