What was Christmas like in Jacksonville years ago? Let s go back to 1902
Tom Emery, Journal-Courier
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People today complain of the commercialism of Christmas, from advertisements that begin in September to Black Friday sales that never end. There was plenty of wheeling and dealing at Christmas a century ago, too.
In Jacksonville in 1902, the papers were filled with ads offering everything possible at Christmas, from the everyday to the ridiculous. Indeed, the Christmas crush kept cash registers jingling across the city.
In the days before television, radio and the internet, Christmas shoppers relied on display ads in newspapers, which shamelessly tempted consumers with almost anything, under the pretense of yuletide.