Town postmaster James Martin spent years trying to change it back, and in 1927 the town became Santa Claus again. Then in 1895 the Grinch-like Secretary of the Interior changed the name of the town to one word, Santaclaus, supposedly to conform to a nationwide standardization for place names. Santa Claus remained that way for decades of peaceful obscurity. "It's Santa Claus!" cried a child, and the town decided that indeed it was. "They wanted to keep the Santa," said the curator at the Santa Claus Museum, "and all they could think of was Santa Claus." But that's not a very magical story, so a tale developed that the new-name debate took place on Christmas Eve, and that it was interrupted when a door blew open and sleigh bells could be heard on the wind. When its citizens asked for a post office in 1856, they were told that Indiana already had a post office named Santa Fe and that if they wanted one they would have to change their town's name. If you are feeling like your Christmas isn’t Christmasy enough, you know where to go.Long before there were cars or vacations, there was Santa Claus, Indiana.
Dad can play the links at the Christmas Lake Golf Course, and the kids can feed apples and carrots to the depressed horses in Santa’s Stables. You can also visit Frosty’s Fun Center (mini-golf, snacks, etc.), which doesn’t sound at all like the setting for an 80s slasher flick. It offers non-frostbitey wintery watery fun for the whole family. The Holiday World & Splashin’ Safari is a Holiday-themed amusement and waterpark (originally named Santa Claus Land) once visited by Ronald Reagan. It’s actually all about the history of the town and its transition from Santa Fe to Santa Claus. There is the Santa Claus Museum, housing a number of Santa Claus mummies. Kids can also play with toys in various buildings representing various toymakers. There is Santa’s Candy Castle, where Santa’s woodworking shop can be found and actual toys are made (sorry kids, no Transformers–just stuff made of wood). Volunteer elves have been doing this since 1914 (it is doubtful that this is what caused WWI). Every kid who is smart enough to figure out that Santa has an entire town named after him and write to him there gets a personal letter in return from the Santa Claus Elves. If there are Grinches in Santa Claus, they don’t make themselves known around Christmas, when volunteers respond to each and every letter to Santa that comes through the post office. And the DMV is the Santa Claus DMV, but…maybe not so jolly. And the police department is the Santa Claus PD. That means that the post office is the Santa Claus post office. However, perhaps after being informed by the US Postal Service that there was another Santa Fe and showing up to the post office wearing the same dress was totally gauche, the town changed its name to…Santa Claus.
Labeled “America’s Christmas Hometown,” Santa Claus, Indiana was initially established as Santa Fe, Indiana.
Not only that, but you can can totally send a letter to Santa Claus, provided you are sending mail to Indiana…Santa Claus, Indiana, that is.
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