The Law Offices of John Caravella, P.C. does not own this content. This content was created by Laura Parnaby and was published to the Daily Mail. To view the full article, please click here.

Each year, millions of tourists from around the world flock to New York City’s Rockefeller Center to catch a glimpse of America’s most famous Christmas tree – an iconic harbinger of the holiday season.

But few know the heartwarming origins of the Rockefeller Tree – which date back almost a century to the Great Depression.

In 1931, as the country grappled with the devastating economic collapse, construction of the Rockefeller Center, then known as the RCA building, was underway in the heart of Manhattan.

Masterminded by oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller Jr., the ambitious Midtown project was designed to transform the New York skyline and provide much-needed jobs to the city’s workers.

As the winter chill moved in, some of the Italian-American immigrants employed at the construction site – many of whom were struggling to pay the bills – decided to add some cheer to their lives with a low-cost Christmas tree.

They pooled their funds to purchase a 20-foot balsam and decorated it with a string of cranberries, a few tin cans and homemade paper garlands from their families.

Though a far cry from the glitz of today’s towering evergreen, it became a display of optimism as workers lined up beside the plant on Christmas Eve to receive their wages while the country was grappling with poverty.

It was in that exact place – one year later – that Charles Ebbets snapped the iconic picture of Rockefeller construction laborers pausing to eat lunch with their legs dangling on a suspended beam high above New York City. (Images available on Google).

The Law Offices of John Caravella, P.C. does not own this content. This content was created by Laura Parnaby and was published to the Daily Mail. To view the full article, please click here.

John Caravella Esq., is a construction attorney and formerly practicing project architect at The Law Office of John Caravella, P.C., representing architects, engineers, contractors, subcontractors, and owners in all phases of contract preparation, litigation, and arbitration across New York and Florida. He also serves as an arbitrator to the American Arbitration Association Construction Industry Panel. Mr. Caravella can be reached by email: John@LIConstructionLaw.com or (631) 608-1346.