As Christmas approaches, homes
and stores begin to be fill with decorations of
Santa and his helpers. This year, Akron has dug into
its past and found something truly unique, a tiny
ceramic blue Santa.
Following the 2002 excavation of excavation of Lock
3 in Downtown Akron, thousand of marbles, animal
shapes, jugs, thimbles and many more items were
unearthed that are more than a century old. Included
in the findings were five Santa Clause dolls;
however, the dolls were not red and some of them
were even painted blue.
These ornaments are believed to be some of the first
Santa's to be mass-produced.
Michael Cohill, the director of the American Toy
Marble Museum in Akron, said the blue glazed Santa
dates around the mid 1890s and is a product of the
American Marble and Toy Manufacturing Co. once in
Akron.
Cohill said he is not exactly sure why the Santa has
a blue glaze but the glaze used to coat Santa was a
tradition brought over from Germany. Also, at the
time there was no red glaze and the only colors
available consisted of blue, brown, greenish blue
and a yellowish color.
Cohill also said the color blue coating the
ornaments is unique. He said when they tried to
reproduce the blue colored glazing they had problems
doing so. The exact color blue from the 1890s was
made differently than the way glazing is made today.
According to the American Toy & Marble Museum, the
next appearance of a Santa figure did not come until
the 1910s.
The importance of the Santa dolls is derived from
the past.
In 1884 Samuel Dyke founded the American Marble and
Toy Manufacturing Co. in Akron. It was the first
marble factory and considered the largest in the
world at the time.
"Dyke was truly the founder of the American toy
industry, and whose factory operated on Center
Street at Lock 3 for 20 years until it burned down
in 1904," said Dave Lieberth, chief of staff to
Mayor Don Plusquellic.
In 2002 Akron began excavation work to open up views
of the Ohio-Erie canal downtown. They then
discovered thousands of century-old artifacts buried
in the ground. Only two of the Santa figures
remained completely intact from the excavation and
are now on display at the history exhibit at Lock 3.
Cohill said he is proud of the Santa dolls' heritage
rooted in Akron.
"We, as people, can claim the blue Santa as ours,"
he said.
According to Cohill, it wasn't until 1931 that a
Coca-Cola advertisement showed Santa as the jolly
old man in a big red coat and cemented the most
popular image of Santa in our minds.
A University of Akron volunteer at the Toy Exhibit,
Casey Berenyi, said that his grandmother also has a
blue Santa, however hers appears to be saint-like.
Cohill said he hopes the blue doll gives Akron a
name.
"I hope 50 years from now people recognize the blue
Santa as who we are," Cohill said.