Jordan Marsh’s Enchanted Village Was Boston’s Christmas Tradition, and It Still Exists
Generations of Boston kids saw Santa and the animated village downtown. Now it’s set up every year in Avon.
For decades, Christmas in Boston meant the Enchanted Village at Jordan Marsh. The display of Santa and model trains at the downtown store drew families from the 1940s until 1972, and it came back in the early 1990s.
What was Jordan Marsh?
It was Boston’s big department store. Eben Dyer Jordan founded it in 1841, Benjamin L. Marsh joined him about ten years later, and in 1861 the store moved into a brownstone at 450 Washington Street in what’s now Downtown Crossing. It was also famous for its bakery’s blueberry muffins.
The name ended in 1996, when its parent company turned Jordan Marsh stores into Macy’s.
What happened to the Enchanted Village?
It moved, then went quiet, then found a new home:
- After a stint at City Hall Plaza, it was discontinued in 1998.
- The city sponsored it for a while, then said it couldn’t afford to, and it was auctioned on June 16, 2009.
- Jordan’s Furniture bought it, and sets it up in Avon, Massachusetts, every holiday season.
Downtown still does Christmas: the tree lightings start in late November, and our Christmas markets and holiday events pages have the rest.
Sources: Wikipedia: Jordan Marsh.
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