Published 5:00 pm Tuesday, December 24, 2024 By Daily Herald Photo provided Photo provided By Tim Ruzek A train whistle sounded in the distance in December 1926 at Austin’s east-side railyard, and most of 1,000-plus boys and girls turned their gaze to the north. Santa Claus, however, was arriving by train from the south on the Milwaukee railroad. “Perhaps it was a South Pole Santa that came this year.
Perhaps he went south with the geese and is on his way back,” the Austin Daily Herald wrote Dec. 18, 1926. Arriving on time at 1:30 p.
m., Santa waved a handkerchief from the platform as the train backed into the station. He was kicking off a four-day stay in Austin, with three days of appearances.
“All the kids rushed to the train. A squad of police was kept busy keeping the youngsters in safe places. Then the great myth of childhood stepped down and was escorted to the chariot sleigh.
” Austin Mayor E.B. Carter brought the sleigh led by white horses to meet Santa.
Parents were there by the hundreds. Santa’s arrival in Austin was front page, all-caps, top-headline news. “It was a kaleidoscope mass of animated colors,” the Herald wrote.
“Bright-eyed youngsters with the ruddy bloom that a near-zero weather only can put in the cheeks of youth were standing on tip toe of excitement and expectation long before Santa’s train arrived.” With a Boy Scout band playing, a parade began led by police, with Santa acknowledging all “his little admirers” along the way. .