When the switch flipped in November on the 108th annual City of Chicago Christmas Tree in Millennium Park, Vince Kelley was particularly happy to see the lights go on.

This year, the honor of installing the lights — and the weeks of work that go with that honor — were bestowed upon South Side electrical contractor M.T. Kelley Electric, LLC, of Chicago Ridge. The company, founded in 1994, is now run by Vince Kelley, son of the founder.

He said the company, which mostly does industrial and commercial jobs, was proud to be part of the project.

“Last year, with COVID, the lighting ceremony couldn’t be held in person, so we knew this year the tree would be especially important for the city, that people would be happy and excited to be able to go downtown once again to see the tree,” Kelley said.

“We knew it was important to do the job right. There was a lot to think about — public safety, an attractive design, coordinating with the other people involved. We’ve done a lot of businesses and offices, but this was our first time to do a project like this, a giant Christmas tree.”

Neal Heitz, a director with the city’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, said the firm did a “wonderful job,” not only with the blue and pink lights for the tree, a 51-foot blue spruce donated by a family in Logan

Square, but also with the rest of the display.

This year, thanks to a grant from the Millennium Park Foundation, which helps manage the park, and support from the Pritzker Foundation, the trees along Michigan Avenue from Monroe St. to Randolph St. are festooned with white lights.

M.T. Kelley Electric was chosen for the job through another partner in the annual Christmas tree project, Powering Chicago, a partnership that brings together the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 134 and the Electrical Contractors’ Association of the City of Chicago.

“We want to share what our partners can do by taking part in a grand event like kicking off the holiday season in Chicago,” said Elbert Walters III, executive director of Powering Chicago.

“The tree lighting is all about gathering people together to enjoy the spirit of the season. Having a tree that everyone can be a part of is special. No matter what your background is, you can come down to this public space and enjoy it.”

The tree is set up at Michigan Avenue and Washington Street, just a few blocks from where the first municipal Christmas tree made its debut in 1913 just north of the Art Institute at Michigan and Monroe Streets.

According to the Library of Congress, Christmas lights were first strung together by Thomas Edison in 1880, which he used to decorate the outside of his laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey, creating the first known lighting display. Two years later, his business partner and friend Edward H. Johnson strung together red, white, and blue bulbs and wound them around his Christmas tree.

But it took decades longer before electric lights were accepted and available for Christmas decorations. As recounted in Harold L. Platt’s book, “The Electric City,” the 1893 Columbian Exposition World’s Fair in Chicago demonstrated for the first time the potential of electrical energy to improve everyday life in the city.

Included at the event were lavish electrical displays that caused people to declare that the lighting was the crowning glory of the fair. Consumer demand for the service greatly increased.

By 1913, electrical technology and installation standards had sufficiently advanced to allow the city to safely and affordably display a 35-foot tree propped up on 40-foot poles holding many smaller trees, all covered with lights donated by the Commonwealth Edison Co., according to coverage in the Chicago Tribune and City Council records. Lights were also included on Roman arches composed of evergreen boughs as a backdrop, and steam locomotives from the Illinois Central Railroad created fog in the background for special effect.

An estimated 100,000 people attended the first lighting ceremony, presided over by Mayor Carter Harrison.

Harrison stated at the ceremony, “It gives me great pleasure to inaugurate Chicago’s first municipal Christmas celebration. Industry, civic patriotism and energy have made what we now witness possible. I hope that this will be to inaugurate a long series of similar celebrations,” according to contemporary reports.

He then pushed the button to light the tree “in all its electrical magnificence,” and there were “lusty cheers from the crowd.”

In 1918, the Journal of Electricity carried an article on municipal Christmas trees, noting that electricity was the “fairy godmother” that made possible the “dazzling beauty” of the displays and celebrations that attracted thousands of people, conferring a magical mystique to the lighting. That magical feeling continues to thrive as evidenced by the many popular, extravagant lighting displays that are mounted each year throughout the Chicago area.

Kelley, the Chicago Ridge contractor, will be tasked with dismantling the lights between Jan. 9, the last day for viewing the tree, and Jan. 13.

“This was fun; it was something we will always remember being involved in,” he said.

Carol Flynn is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.