Santa Claus, Indiana
1874 – 1935

International Santa Claus Hall of Fame – December 2014

The story of Santa Claus, Indiana, is inseparable from the story of one man’s extraordinary kindness. The town’s post office was established in 1856, but for decades its whimsical name attracted little more than curiosity. That changed forever when James F. Martin became the town’s fourteenth postmaster in 1914 and began doing something no one had thought to do before: answering the children’s letters addressed to Santa Claus that arrived at his tiny post office.

Word spread quickly, and people began flocking to Santa Claus for the coveted holiday postmark. The town’s fame grew to such an extent that it caught the attention of cartoonist Robert Ripley, who featured the post office in his nationally syndicated “Believe It or Not” column in 1929. By the early 1930s, the volume of holiday mail had become so overwhelming that the U.S. Postal Department sought to change the town’s name a proposal that was fiercely and successfully opposed by Indiana’s own congressional delegation.

In the early days, Martin would sometimes don the famous red suit himself, delighting visitors who had made the journey to southern Indiana for that special postmark. He later enlisted a helper, Jim Yellig, to assist as the letters multiplied year after year.

Martin did not set out to transform a small farming community into one of America’s most beloved Christmas destinations. He simply chose to answer a child’s letter. Today, the non-profit Santa’s Elves, Inc. carries on his tradition, with volunteers answering tens of thousands of letters each holiday season keeping James F. Martin’s remarkable legacy alive for generations of children to come.