Her interest in preserving the town’s past has grown over the last six years to include the Historic 1935 Santa Statue and the 1880 Santa Claus Church, once located off the “beaten path” in the woods. We have just wrapped up a full restoration of the Santa Statue. Crews carefully moved the Santa Claus Post Office and 1880 Church to the museum grounds for further preservation and to allow visitors to walk through these historic buildings.

We’re now in the process of building a plaza that the historic buildings and statue will surround. That plaza will form the front entrance for a new, expanded museum building that can properly house and display our quickly growing collection of area antiques, artifacts and memorabilia. We also have plans to add three new collections to the Santa Claus Museum, giving visitors even more exhibits to walk through.

Plans for the new Santa Claus Museum also include a cafe with seating inside and outside on the plaza. We hope to relocate a historic barn that will house a nativity scene. We’re also including larger, dedicated work space for Santa’s Elves and their volunteers to handle the yearly crush of mail and the letter answering campaign for Santa.

Our dreams are ambitious but with your help we can make them a reality. That’s why we’re proud to announce one of our first fundraising campaigns to help us reach the goal of raising $1 Million for the construction of a new museum complex: the Santa Claus Museum Cookbook.

The Santa Claus Museum Cookbook:  Recipes From Mrs. Claus and Friends focuses on the timeless treasures we all have neatly (and sometimes messily) tucked away in a recipe box somewhere. Part cookbook and part memoir, this collection of recipes pays tribute to food that has been handed down from generation to generation and are often part of dearly held family traditions.

Pat Koch’s father, Santa Jim Yellig, was the official Santa of Santa Claus Land for more than 35 years. Her mother Bella “Mrs. Claus” Yellig preferred to stay in the background and keep Santa happy with her well-known cooking skills. Bella headed catering operations at the Santa Claus American Legion Post and for a time, Jim and Bella owned The Chateau in nearby Mariah Hill. Many of Bella’s recipes were treasures brought to the United States by her grandmother when she emigrated from Germany. Dozens of those gastronomic treasures, along with the stories that go with them, are featured in the Santa Claus Museum Cookbook.

Thanks to the support of friends of the Santa Claus Museum, our new cookbook is packed with nearly 500 recipes and their stories and it will soon be ready to grace your kitchen counter. Maybe it will even start some new food traditions in your family too!

To pre-order your copy of the Santa Claus Museum Cookbook online for $14.95, head to Holiday World’s HoliShop. If you’d like to mail in an order, please send check or money order totaling $19.95 ($14.95 + $5.00 S/H) to:

Santa Claus Museum
Attn: Cookbook
PO Box #1
Santa Claus, IN 47579

Checks should be made out to Santa’s Elves & Santa Claus Museum Inc.

We appreciate your support!

Our fully restored Historic 1935 Santa Statue towers 22 feet talls and weighs 40-tons. It's a marvel to look at up-close and makes for a great family photo! The statue is on museum grounds and admission is free.

We’re very excited to announce that the Santa Claus Museum will be open beginning the first weekend in May.

Crews are putting the finishing touches on the 1880 Santa Claus Church and the 1856 Santa Claus Post Office, recently moved to their new home here at the Santa Claus Museum.

Construction on our site should be wrapped up shortly giving us two very large additions in our collection to present to you during your next visit.

We look forward to welcoming you to the Santa Claus Museum in 2012. Below are our hours for the month of May. Daily operation will begin in June (that schedule will be posted soon).

Saturday, May 5:              8am to 6pm

Sunday, May 6:                 10am to 4pm

Saturday, May 12:            8am to 5pm

Sunday, May 13:               8am to 4pm

Saturday, May 19:            8am to 5pm

Sunday, May 20:               8am to 4pm

Saturday, May 26:            8am to 5pm

Sunday, May 27:               8am to 4pm

A light dusting of snow and a brisk winter’s chill couldn’t deter the MCF House Movers crew from rolling our historic 1880 German Evangelical St. Paul’s Church to its new resting spot yesterday. It was a momentous day, not only for the church or museum but also for Mrs. Koch who has dreamed of this happening for years.

As serious a business it is to move a 132-year old church with 70-foot steeple intact, it didn’t come without some puns.

“We’re all holy rollers now!”

“How did the church cross the road? On wheels.”

Mrs. Koch was all smiles about this big day.

The church rolls down State Route 245 at 5mph.

I think the sign on the back of the church says it all!

Some people will also be sure to remember February 8, 2012 as one of the few times the town of Santa Claus experienced a traffic jam. There was at least a handful of cars on each side of the roadblock that got a front row seat to what will probably be the widest and tallest load they’ve ever seen trucked down the highway. At least the bells didn’t ring the entire time our picturesque church was on the move. Crews made sure to tie it off before it started rolling, less the entire town and every animal in a 5-mile radius be alerted to the madness.

The 1880 church gets ready to rest on its new foundation.

Ron Smith, general contractor on the project, watches the church inch the final few feet toward the new foundation.

It was definitely a sight to see. Many people lined the 1/3 of a mile stretch of State Route 245 to marvel at a church hitting the asphalt. One neighbor commented “it’s not every day you look out your picture window to see a church clipping down the highway at 5 miles per hour.”

In case you missed all the fun, we shot some video for you so you can see the process. We also talked to Mrs. Koch about her dream (to restore and open this church to the public) finally coming true. On Tuesday the first Santa Claus Post Office will roll around the corner from Holiday World & Splashin’ Safari to the Santa Claus Museum & Park. There it will join the church and Historic 1935 Santa Claus Statue.

*If you’d like to make a donation to help the museum continue preservation efforts of these two buildings and many other important objects, please visit our Members & Support page where you can now donate online via PayPal.

February 8, 2012
SANTA CLAUS, IND. — MCF House Movers of Petersburg, Indiana, will very slowly transport the 1880 “Deutsch Evangelish St. Paul’s Kirche” this morning for a distance of just under one-half of a mile to its new home in Santa Claus Park.

The 132-year old country church will join the town’s newly-restored 1935 Santa Statue plus the Santa Claus Museum, founded by Holiday World matriarch Pat Koch, at the site of the original Santa Claus Park.

The church stands 70 feet tall (including steeple and weather vane). It will be moved with steeple and original church bell intact, along with the following contents: altar, cast-iron woodstove, Reed pump organ, native poplar wood benches and pews. The church, which weighs approximately 50 tons, will roll on three sets of dollies pulled by a tractor truck.

Another historic building will join the church and statue at Santa Claus Park on February 14. The original Santa Claus Post Office, built in 1856, will be moved in the same fashion from Holiday World, where it has served as a doll museum since the theme park opened in 1946.)

The non-profit Santa Claus Museum funded the purchase of the church as well as today’s move. Donations may be made to help with this and other projects through the organization’s website at http://SantaClausMuseum.org.

But we know better, don’t we?

And his Elves keep busy year-round, too.

Take Millie, for instance.

Here she is, over by the former Betsy Ross Doll House in Holiday World.

Former?

That’s right. The doll house is moving out of the park.

Don’t worry, though, it’s just heading down the road a bit.

Did you know the Doll House had an entirely different life before being moved to the park in 1946?

That sweet little building was the original Santa Claus Post Office, which opened in 1856.

After 65 years in Santa Claus Land (as the House of Dolls) and Holiday World’s 4th of July section, the post office will be moved soon to join the historic Santa Claus statue around the bend on State Road 245.

Back to Millie – she’s packing up the hundreds of dolls for safe-keeping.

Here’s the 1935 Santa Statue, which we restored last year. Isn’t it lovely? It practically glows at night.

The Santa Claus Museum moved a portion of its collection into the green building next to the statue in time for Christmas visits last year. This is where the Santa Elves performed their letter-answering duties, too.

Museum founder Pat Koch has long dreamed of creating a village with some of the town’s historic buildings, and the next step will happen very soon.

Two iconic buildings will join the Santa Statue and Santa Claus Museum in the coming days.

This historic church is nearly ready to go. Originally called the Deutsch Evangelishe St. Paul’s Kirche, this 1880 country church long housed a congregation that originated in 1853. It’s just beautiful inside …

Here’s where the church and the original post office will be moved to in the next week or so. Although we’ve had a mild winter so far, it’s not easy to plan a move of this magnitude this time of year. But we’ll be sure to keep you posted!

Meanwhile, watch for updates on our Facebook page and Twitter feed.

Undoubtedly a rare site in tiny Santa Claus, cars were parked bumper to bumper for the statue unveiling. A harsh winter storm also began blanketing the region with snow that day.

The Santa statue was designed by artist Ralph Seymour Fletcher and was constructed at the Chicago Foundry. It was then transported by lowboy trailer to its current resting spot on a knoll near the old town settlement of Santa Claus. Barrett originally billed the statue as being made from solid granite. It was later discovered to be constructed from 40-tons of concrete with a granite-like finish. Santa stands on a five pointed star facing due east to the town of Bethlehem.

Carl A. Barrett stands next to his completed Santa statue sometime in the fall of 1935. The original town settlement of Santa Claus can be seen down the hill and looking south from the statue.

The unveiling of the Santa statue was undoubtedly one of the biggest events in town history and was heard as a special hour-long radio broadcast from coast to coast. Louisville radio station WHAS had to run special telephone lines into Santa Claus just to transmit the special broadcast. The Columbia Broadcasting System donated the block of time so the dedication could be heard nationwide.

On December 23, 1935 the Louisville Courier-Journal reported:

“Undaunted by bitter cold weather, more than 1,000 persons attended the impressive ceremonies, which were radiocast by WHAS, radio-phone of The Courier-Journal and The Times.”

Four people were lucky enough to unveil the statue to the large crowd. The Courier-Journal, Louisville Times and Evansville Courier newspapers all sponsored a Christmas jingle competition. Aimed at children, entrants were encouraged to “fill in the blank” on several Christmas themed jingles printed as a newspaper insert. Sara Carter, a 9 year old girl from Louisville, and Glenn Dean, a 14 year old boy from New Albany won the contest in the Louisville area. Bobby Schweigert and Doris Sills won the jingle contest in the Evansville area.

Sara Carter (9yo.) and Glenn Dean (14yo.) can be seen on the right side of the statue (closest to the WHAS microphone), ready to pull the cords and drop the “spangled drapes” from the statue. Bobby Schweigert and Doris Sills can both be seen gripping the cords on the left

On the command of the master of ceremonies, the four winners gripped braided cords that caused “spangled drapes” to fall off the Santa statue and reveal what Barrett had worked so long to fund-raise and create. A living legacy to Barrett and all the people who believe in the true spirit of Santa Claus, the statue recently underwent a $100,000 restoration paid for by the Koch family.

The Historic 1935 Santa Statue still stands in its original spot and continues to be enjoyed by townspeople and visitors traveling through the area. Do you have any memories or photos of the Santa Statue? Please leave us a comment and share.

It was said to be the world's largest postcard ever mailed from Robert Ripley in New York to the Santa Claus Post Office

Emblazoned with just a 2-cent stamp, that postcard was mailed from New York on December 12 from none another than Robert Ripley of the famous Ripley’s Believe It or Not. Ripley’s syndicated newspaper panels were printed around the globe and at its peak in popularity back in the early 1930′s, more than 80-million newspaper readers saw the panels.

Robert Ripley marvels over his giant postcard that made it to Santa Claus, Indiana and back to New York complete with the famous postmark

Ripley first learned about the Santa Claus, Indiana post office in 1930 when Congressman Harry Rowbottom of Indiana introduced a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives providing more pay for the postmaster of Santa Claus. Postmaster James Martin (he’s third from the left above his giant postmark) sent the giant postcard back to Ripley but not before posing with it outside the Martin General store, also the site of the town’s second post office.

A copy of one of the famous Ripley's newspaper panels depicting Santa Claus, Indiana

From that point forward, the Santa Claus Post Office would be known worldwide as Santa’s Post Office and was often crushed with enormous amounts of mail coming to the jolly ‘ol elf. It took an army of volunteers spearheaded by Santa Jim Yellig to help Martin dig out from all those letters, ensuring each and every one got a letter back. Nearly 100 years later, the tradition of townspeople and now Santa’s Elves helping answer thousands of letters to Santa from around the globe carries on today.

Cheers to you Mr. Martin & Mr. Ripley!

Santa Jim Yellig stands on the loading dock of the Santa Claus Post Office, checking each name twice on his outgoing parcels no doubt!

Our collection of Coca-Cola Santa memorabilia at the Santa Claus Museum

One of the bright and colorful Santa collections inside the museum seems to grow with each passing year and it’s just about ready to burst out of its current display case. The jovial man, dressed head to toe in red and clutching that curvy green glass bottle is an unmistakable advertising image.  This ad icon and quintessential piece of holiday Americana is none other than the Coca-Cola Santa.

Coca-Cola, celebrating its 125th Anniversary this week, began using the image of Santa in its winter advertising back in the 1930′s and is often credited with creating our “modern” image of him. Talented commercial illustrator Haddon Sundblom is the artist behind the Coca-Cola imagery but his concepts were drawn on ones already established in the early 1900′s by other illustrators and advertisers. While Coca-Cola’s use of Santa in their winter advertising imagery was quite pervasive and persuasive, they certainly didn’t create the jolly ‘ol elf nor were they the first to capitalize on the classic kid-friendly imagery.

The original Root Glass Co. contour bottle designed for Coca-Cola and patented in 1915

Speaking of Coca-Cola, did you know the classic glass bottle used to ferry fizzy drinks straight to thirsty consumers was designed right here in Indiana? Coca-Cola’s business was beginning to be threatened by an uprising in competition during the early 1900′s. The soft drink company decided to sponsor a contest; the goal was to come up with a unique bottle design Coca-Cola could trademark to help further protect their bubbly identity.

Root Glass Company based in Terre Haute, already a supplier of glass bottles to Coca-Cola and several other soda companies, had just been flattened by a tornado on March 23, 1913. While the plant was being reconstructed, Chapman Root assigned machinist Earl Dean and auditor Clyde Edwards to come up with a design for the contest. Dean’s “contour” bottle design was based on a drawing of a cocoa-pod he saw in a book at the local library and it was enough to make the Root design stand out above 11 other contenders. The Coca-Cola “contour” bottle was patented November 16, 1915.

Three glass furnaces at the Terre Haute plant ran constantly until the early 1930′s when the bottle works was sold to another glass company. Other glass companies also produced the bottles and paid Root a 5-cent royalty on each and every gross that was made. How about that distinctive green color? You might be surprised to know that the green color of the “contour” glass bottle wasn’t intentionally designed that way. The coloring actually comes from minerals in the sand mined in the Terre Haute area for glass-making. Other bottle manufacturers would go on to color their glass to match Root’s unique and natural glass color.The Root Glass Company would end up putting Terre Haute on the map for designing and producing the famous Coca-Cola “contour” bottle beginning in 1915.

If you would like some more information on the big Coca-Cola 125th Anniversary celebration in Terre Haute on November 21, visit WTHI’s Community Events Listing. Do you have any Coca-Cola collectibles or memories you’re especially fond of? Maybe there was a spot in the Santa Claus, Indiana area where you always loved to stop for an ice cold Coke? Leave us a comment and share your story!

The Ross Glass Co. in Terre Haute, Indiana where the iconic Coca-Cola "contour" bottle was designed and produced

It’s always exciting when a reporter from the national news media calls, which they tend to do every year in the fall when your town’s name is Santa Claus.

Back in 1996, though, excitement turned to fear when the reporter revealed he was on assignment with…the National Enquirer.

The reporter, Chris Rodell, was certainly affable enough. Still, we only half-jokingly warned the community to make sure their trash cans were emptied.

Chris’s visit was fun. He toured the town, met with officials, examined Rudolph the Red-Nosed Fire Truck, and took a look around Holiday World.

His final stop was Bill Koch’s office. Mr. Koch, warm and generous as always, talking about the town’s history and his love of planning for the future. Mrs. Koch was there too, as were Will and Natalie.

Mr. Koch touched on a subject I hadn’t heard discussed publicly before: a Santa Claus Museum.

He and Mrs. Koch finished each other’s sentences as they talked about their dream to preserve the past for future generations. It sounded great.

When they paused to take a breath after waxing poetically for about 10 minutes, Will looked straight at me and pointedly stated: “What you just heard is not for public knowledge.”

I stared back, suddenly realizing he wasn’t joking. Half a second later, I dramatically raised my arm and pointed directly at Chris, saying only two words:

“National. Enquirer.”

Will burst into peals of laughter, joined quickly by the rest of us, including Chris. The secret was out.

Chris’s article was wonderful.

And that dream for a Santa Claus Museum was realized a decade later, scandal-free.

The National Enquirer came to town and published this article on Santa Claus, Indiana for their December 26, 1996 edition.

- Thanks Paula! That story makes me chuckle. Do you have an interesting story about a town happening or event? Would you like to be a guest blogger? Send us an email and let us know.

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We’re pleased to announce the opening of a new location where children and their families can write and send their letters to Santa. Beginning Thanksgiving weekend through December 18, 2011, Santa’s Elves will open their workshop to the public at the Historic Santa Statue.

Inside, children can take a seat at an antique school desk and draft their wishlist to the jolly ‘ol elf. Families will also be able to experience a portion of the Santa Claus Museum’s collection showcasing the history of our town, area attractions and even see what children of yesteryear might have found beneath their Christmas trees. You can also take a short walking path up to the newly restored Historic Santa Statue, dedicated to the children of the world.