The Geneva Daily Times proudly announced that its Dec. 17 Christmas Issue was “the most extensive ever attempted in this city.” Instead of the usual four, or even the occasional eight pages, this edition was “16 pages of good reading matter.”
The “Christmas Issue” actually celebrated the one-year anniversary of Geneva as a city by marking the “remarkable prosperity of Geneva” as it “Entered Upon a New Lease of Life.” One long article traced the history of Geneva. There were extensive tributes to the major industries fueling Geneva’s new era: the nursery business, foundries, marble works, canning companies, and cereal works. Two elegant and cheerful hotels signified the City’s “healthy growth and business stability” to investors and commercial buyers alike.
Any historian interested in the economic history of the city of Geneva could do worse than starting with the Christmas issue.
The wire services, not local sources, supplied the stories about Christmas.
Adeline Sergeant’s short story, “While Shepherds Watched: A Christmas Story,” takes up seven columns (one full page plus one full column), including illustrations. Sergeant (1841-1904) was an educated English author........