Raising the Madison Square Christmas tree, ca. 1912 or 1913, New York City, by Bain News Service, via Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division (all photos here).
The park is located at Fifth Avenue and Broadway at 23rd Street.
Madison Square may have been* the site of the first illuminated community Christmas tree in America — lit on December 24, 1912.
The tradition is continued today by the Madison Square Park Conservancy.
Light is a dancer here and cannot rest.
No tanagers or jays are half so bright
As swarms of fire that deep in fragrance nest
In jungles of the gilt exotic night. . .— John Frederick Nims, from “Christmas Tree“
*There may have been two prior illuminated community trees: in San Diego in 1904 and Pasadena in 1909.
Back porch, possibly in Northwest Manville, New Jersey, February 1936, by Carl Mydans for the U.S. Resettlement Administration, via Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
Collins-Davis House, Main Street, Old Washington, Kentucky, 1982, by Jack Boucher for an Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), via Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division (all photos here).
This clapboard structure, built in 1875, is the most exuberant interpretation of Gothic Revival architecture in Washington. . . . A mid-western interpretation of Gothic Revival cottage architecture, . . . with three steep gables emphasizing verticality and the porch with stylized Tudor arches drawing attention from the Greek Revival doorway. Notably absent is any vestige of . . . the “gingerbread” often associated with post-Civil War architecture.
— HABS, written ca. late 1970s or early 1980s
Looking at Google Maps street view for Old Washington, it appears that the house still exists in good condition.
Seventh Division schoolchildren and teacher studying leaves out of doors, Washington, D.C., ca. 1899, by Frances Benjamin Johnston via Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
In 1899, Johnston became interested in progressive education and made a photo survey of students at public schools in Washington, D.C.
enclos*ure 