Editing Santa Claus, Indiana (section)

==History==
{{More citations needed section|date=June 2011}}
The community of Santa Claus was established in 1849. The story of how it received the name of Santa Claus has roots both in fact and legend. In January 1856, the town applied for a post office to be installed. They submitted their application under the name of Santa Fe. The application was returned to them with the message, "Choose some name other than Santa Fe." The process of settling upon the name of Santa Claus has been lost to legend. There are many different versions of the story and there were other choices as well that the town did not settle upon. What is known is that in 1856, the name of Santa Claus was accepted by the Post Office Department.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.postalhistory.com/postoffices.asp?task=display&state=IN&county=Perry | title=Spencer County | publisher=Jim Forte Postal History | access-date=October 4, 2015}}</ref>

On June 25, 1895, as part of a nationwide standardization for place names (see [[United States Board of Geographic Names]]), the post office name was changed to the one word ''Santaclaus''. The town's unique name went largely unnoticed until the late 1920s, when Postmaster James Martin began promoting the Santa Claus postmark. The name was changed back to ''Santa Claus'' on February 17, 1928. It was then that the Post Office Department decided there would never be another Santa Claus Post Office in the United States, due to the influx of holiday mail and the staffing and logistical problems this caused. The growing volume of holiday mail became so substantial that it caught the attention of [[Robert Ripley]] in 1929, who featured the town's post office in his nationally syndicated ''[[Ripley's Believe It or Not!]]'' [[comic strip|cartoon strip]].

The town's name also inspired [[Vincennes, Indiana]] entrepreneur Milt Harris to create [[Santa's Candy Castle]], the first tourist attraction in Santa Claus, Indiana. Dedicated December 22, 1935 and sponsored by the [[Curtiss Candy Company]], the red-brick Candy Castle is purported to be the first themed attraction in the United States. Another Santa Claus Town attraction, Toy Village, features a series of miniature fairytale buildings sponsored by prominent national toy manufacturers. Santa Claus Town led to the creation of the town's first newspaper, ''The Santa Claus Town News'', and the Santa Claus Chamber of Commerce.

Harris' project caught the attention of a rival entrepreneur, Carl Barrett, the Chicago head of the Illinois Auto Club. Disliking what he called Harris' materialism, Barrett planned his own tourist attraction, Santa Claus Park. On December 25, 1935, Barrett dedicated a {{convert|22|ft|m|adj=on}} tall statue of Santa Claus that was erected on the highest hill in town. The statue was promoted as being solid [[granite]], although it was subsequently revealed to be [[concrete]] when cracks formed years later.

[[File:Santa Clause, IN 1954, with Christmas Seal.jpg|thumb|Since 1936 Santa Claus has been considered the "First Day of Issue" town for the initial release of [[Christmas seals]]  and has played an important role in promoting them, playing an important role in raising funds to fight [[tuberculosis]]<ref>{{cite book |editor-last= Denune |editor-first=John Jr. |title=The Christmas Seal Catalog |volume= |author-link= |publisher=The Christmas Seal and Charity Stamp Society |location= |year=2014 |isbn= |url=https://www.seal-society.org/sites/default/files/pdf/news/166/The%20Christmas%20Seal%20Catalog-1.pdf |quote=The Christmas Seal Catalog is a simplified version of Green’s Catalog of TB Seals of the World, part 1, U.S. National Christmas Seals |page=II |ref=catalog2014}}</ref>]]
Years of lawsuits between Harris and Barrett were costly distractions for the two entrepreneurs. The lawsuits centered around land ownership and went all the way to the Indiana Supreme Court. National news media covered the ongoing story of "Too Many Santas." Over the years, both entrepreneurs' visions became neglected as the development of the town spread west due to land development by the Koch Family.

On August 3, 1946, retired industrialist Louis J. Koch opened [[Holiday World & Splashin' Safari|Santa Claus Land]], which is claimed to be the world's first [[Amusement park|theme park]]. The park's name was changed to Holiday World in 1984. In 1993, it became Holiday World & Splashin' Safari when a water park named Splashin' Safari was added to the park. Still owned and operated by the Koch family, it attracts more than one million visitors annually, and it is home to [[The Voyage (roller coaster)|The Voyage]], which has repeatedly been voted by coaster enthusiasts as the number one [[wooden roller coaster]] in the world.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/03/science/wood-takes-a-thrilling-turn-in-roller-coaster-design.html|title=Wood Takes a Thrilling Turn|last=Fountain|first=Henry|date=July 2, 2012|work=The New York Times|access-date=February 4, 2019}}</ref>

More recently the development of Christmas Lake Village as a gated community has more than doubled the population of Santa Claus. In 2005, a local development company purchased [[Santa's Candy Castle]] and other buildings that comprised Santa Claus Town and announced plans to restore and re-open them to the public, starting with Santa's Candy Castle on July 1, 2006. The 40-ton, 22-foot concrete Santa Claus statue was restored in 2011. And in 2012, a local historic church and the town's original post office were moved to the site next to the large Santa Claus statue.