Pat Koch - Holiday World

With no stoplights, no paved roads, and no electricity until 1940, Santa Claus may have looked like a sleepy rural southern Indiana town, but Louis J. Koch saw potential in this small town with the world-famous name. Through the years he, his son Bill, and other Koch children and grandchildren would put the tiny town on the map. The Koch family was among a number of entrepreneurs who were determined to make Santa Claus a place where Christmas was celebrated year-round.

Originally the town, which was laid out in 1846, was named Santa Fe. After it was determined there already was a Santa Fe, Indiana, the towns leaders had to agree on another name. On Christmas Eve 1992, radio news commentator Paul Harvey recalled on his show The Rest of the Story how this small town became Santa Claus. The story begins with the townsfolk sitting around a potbellied stove on Christmas Eve night in 1852, discussing what to name the town. The circuit-riding minister, Rev. Christian Wyttenbach, was there, having just conducted the Christmas Eve service. Someone suggested that Wyttenbach sounded like a good name. Reverend Wyttenbach reportedly declined the honor, and while the discussion went on, a burst of cold winter air blew the church door open and, according to Harvey, beyond the picture-framed doorway was a magical scene of snowflakes winking on black velvet and the magical sound of sleigh bells. The children, who had been sitting quietly in the room while the adults discussed the towns name, ran to the door shouting, Santa Claus! Santa Claus! Suddenly the decision of what to name the town became simple. On May 21, 1856, the name of Santa Claus was accepted by the United States Post Office Department.

Early on, people who traveled to Santa Claus hoping to see Santa were disappointed that he was not there. That was why Evansville industrialist Louis J. Koch decided to create Santa Claus Land. Buying the land for the park, he envisioned a place where children (and adults) could celebrate Christmas no matter what time of the year. Today multiple generations of the Koch family are still an integral part of Santa Claus and the joy the town has brought to millions of families over the span of six decades.

Joe Hevron, age six, sits on a bench in downtown Santa Claus in this photograph taken in 1935. Hevron started working at Santa Claus Land when he was 15 and is still on their staff, coming to work every day. His history with the theme park reflects the continuity and community that define Holiday World and Splashin Safari.

Santa Claus could have just been another small town, albeit one with a memorable name. However, the Koch family saw much more beyond the dirt roads of this small Hoosier town, which now hosts more than a million visitors to Holiday World and Splashin Safari each year. I remember my father saying that the town is named Santa Claus and that there should be something more for children here, recalls Katheryne Bosse, daughter of Louis J. Koch. Christmas was important in our house, and I remember waking up on Christmas mornings and seeing the big old-fashioned German Christmas tree with candles on it. My father would set up a train in the living room, and we had all types of mechanized things like ice-skaters on the pond and a Ferris wheel in the living room on Christmas Day.

The first Santa Claus Post Office building stood on what is now the intersection of State Road 245 and State Road 162, near where the American Legion now stands. John Specht, who had been the postmaster in Rockport, Indiana, was the first postmaster of Santa Claus, according to Jerry Sanders, park archivist. Specht first wrote Santa Clause on the application to the post office (in an interesting aside, Santa Fe was originally misspelled as Santa Fee). Spechts salary was $17.85 per year, and the post offices income in 1856 was $7.29. In 1946, this building was moved to Santa Claus Land; it is now the Betsy Ross Doll House in the Holiday Fourth of July section.

Postmaster James Martin is on the left between the James Martin General Merchandising Store and the Santa Claus Hotel and Restaurant. According to Jerry Sanders, park archivist, Jamess father, Louis Martin, was the towns 13th postmaster (from 1903 to 1914), and James worked as his assistant, taking over on May 18, 1914. He would officially hold the job until April 30, 1935, even though he died on April 27; his family and assistants performed the postmaster duties until a new postmaster was appointed.