As a kid born in Columbus and reared in Reynoldsburg in the late 1960s and early 1970s, going Downtown during the holiday season was always a special event. The Sunday after Thanksgiving, my parents would dress my brother, sister and me in our best church clothes and when the church service was over, we would drive downtown to LAZARUS to visit Santa.
(By the way, if you want a terrific new book with loads of LAZARUS memories, check out the book by the Meyers Family – LAZARUS A Look Back They will be signing copies Friday Night at the annual CHS Author Meet-n-Greet at the Thurber Center at 91 Jefferson Avenue).
My parents would always take a special route that would direct us north a few blocks of Livingston and detour us to East Broad Street. The reason was to take in the spectacle of the State Auto Nativity. Mom and Dad would park the car right on Broad and escort all of us kids right up to the display to take in the life-size Mary, Joseph, Angels, Shepherds, Wise Men and Camels. They were unlike anything I ever saw throughout the year and I always marveled at how real they looked.
Closer on to Christmas, they would bundle us up again, and take us downtown at night to see the lights. Taking the same detour, we would go right up to the statues and take it all in with them bathed in light against the early December night. Sometimes music would be playing and as we got older, choirs would sometimes sing.
As an adult, those holiday memories have taken on more meaning and I became interested in who came up with this idea. It turns out that it began with the founder of State Auto, Robert Pein. He loved Christmas as well as kids, and began the “Christmas Corner” tradition at State Auto around 80 years ago – no one is exactly certain of the first date. His early displays included garlanding all the windows at State Auto and loading the top of the building with lights and Christmas Trees. In 1933 Santa and the Reindeer graced the top of the building and in 1934 an igloo came along as well as a 16 foot high church. In 1935, live models acted as shepherds and a soloist performed every half-hour. Sometimes the display would even include a live nativity, but it was always new and different every year.
During the Second World War, the displays were scaled back and after the war a man named Gordon Keith came along to assist with the decorations. State Auto had just completed a building renovation in the early 1950s that added several stories to their building and wanted to revive the tradition and freshen up the displays. Mr. Gordon had worked in World War II in a unit that created 3-D maps and models, and had the skills to create a few nativity figures. In a Dispatch interview with Joe Blundo a few years back, he said “I made the thing as beautiful as I could make it” He added more and more brightly colored figures and animals to the diorama until it stretched along the entire front face of the State Auto Headquarters.
Since the creation of his work, two State Auto staffers have taken on the task of setting it up year after year, Nancy Elliot and Jo Ann Huntwork. Nancy worked in the 1990s to tone down Gordon’s display to reflect a more realistic holy family with darkened skin tones and more subtly shaded clothing. She is also responsible for breaking up the figures into the tableaus we see today, including the Journey of the family into Bethlehem and the Annunciation. According to State Auto’s Win Logan, Nancy had a “spiritual and artistic attachment to the nativity that is quite evident in her restoration.”
Jo Ann took over in 2002 and one of her first innovations was to give the statues 3-dimensional backgrounds resembling rockwork typical of the Middle East. It was also under her watch a few years ago that the display became more interactive when it moved from the front of 518 East Broad Street to the side “Pine Park” greenspace just east of the building.
One figure absent during most of the holidays is the baby Jesus. Since 1996, he has been laid in the manger at 7:00 on Christmas Eve by a Discovery District leader. Past honorees have included Denny Griffith, President of CCAD, Nanette Macejeunes, Director of the Columbus Museum of Art as well as the aforementioned talented artist Nancy Elliot.
The lights will be officially turned on Wednesday, December 7th at 5:30 PM. Admission is free and open to the public. Local choirs begin performances at 7:00pm December 9th -11th and December 16th – 18th.
Special thanks to Win Logan and everyone at State Auto for all of their assistance. All photos are courtesy of State Auto.
Upcoming Columbus Historical Society Event:
From memories of long gone business establishments, to haunted happenings, to a children’s tale of a falcon’s journey learning his way around the statehouse, to the institution that is OSU.
CHS celebrates those who are capturing and retelling the stories of Columbus. Join CHS in celebration of Central Ohio history authors at our annual Author Signing and Book Sale Friday December 9th at the Thurber Center 91 Jefferson Avenue from 6:00 – 8:00. This year, CHS features 4 new books-great gifts for the holidays!
Meet the authors, hear about their works, and purchase copies to be personally autographed.
If you go: The Thurber Center, 91 Jefferson Avenue, Columbus, OH 43215
Friday, December 9, 2011 from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
For more information on this event, please visit us on Facebook.