How Santa Claus, Indiana Saves Christmas
SmartHERNews
Jenna Lee
4.9 • 660 Ratings
🗓️ 13 December 2023
⏱️ 39 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Have you heard of Santa Claus, Indiana?
Founded in 1856, this town serves as one of the main destinations for "Dear Santa" letters from all over the world.
And this happened, in many ways, because one family took the reins (no reindeer jokes ... yet).
Meet 92-year-old Mrs. Koch (pronounced "Cook"). She holds many titles – including Santa's daughter, Chief Elf, and founder of the Santa Claus Museum – preserving the stories of the past that she now shares with us, including:
- How Santa Claus, IN got its name
- How a WW1 veteran became Santa's best helper
- How the team receives and responds to tens of thousands of letters mailed from around the world.
A perfect news break for anyone who needs a little Christmas spirit – or has some to spare! We hope this interview leaves you with one thought this season ... "Believe!"
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello from the Heartland. My name is Jenna, and this is Smarter News, news when it matters and why it matters. |
| 0:10.3 | Our Smarter series features unique people who help us think and live smarter. |
| 0:17.5 | Well, today we have a conversation that will bring us a little Christmas spirit. |
| 0:22.3 | If you need a little extra Christmas spirit this year, this will be the conversation for you. |
| 0:26.6 | If you're already in the Christmas spirit, this will also be a conversation for you. |
| 0:31.3 | And because this is a story that we discovered at Smarter News sort of by accident. I thought what might be the best way to |
| 0:37.9 | approach this conversation is just to go through it together. So no big introductions, |
| 0:43.6 | no big wind up. We just want to get to our guest and hear a little bit about her story. |
| 0:49.3 | So joining us today is Mrs. Patricia Cook. Mrs. Cook, what year were you born and where do you live? |
| 0:58.1 | I was born in 1931, which makes me 92 years old, very happy to be alive and well. And I live |
| 1:08.0 | in Santa Claus, Indiana. Very proud of that, the great, great, wonderful story of Santa Claus, |
| 1:13.8 | and how the town got its name and what joy we can bring to children. |
| 1:19.9 | How did the town of Santa Claus Indiana get its name? |
| 1:25.3 | Well, there is a legend, and it's wonderful. |
| 1:29.3 | I think possibly I should tell you the legend first. |
| 1:33.3 | The story is that there was, and we know there was, a store, a general store in town. |
| 1:41.3 | Of course, it was the meeting place, and it was where all the, the town got a post office in 1856, |
| 1:48.0 | and I can tell you all about that. That's when the name Santa Claus was given to it as a post office. |
| 1:54.0 | But it got its name, of course, it's a legend in the general store when the townspeople were having a meeting to decide upon the name of the town. |
| 2:04.1 | And the local, the man who had been the circuit rider, preacher, who came through town on his horse |
| 2:10.1 | and helped services was named Christian Wittenbach. And so they talked about naming it after him. And of course, then we wouldn't be here |
| 2:20.6 | and we wouldn't have this wonderful, magical place. But they had children there. It was meeting |
... |
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