By Stephen D. Bowling

With less than ten days left to get ready for Christmas, many shoppers are scrambling to find last-second gifts. The tradition of rushing to finish Christmas lists has been around as long as present giving has been a holiday tradition. The local merchants and The Jackson Times took advantage of those who waited until the last minute. The pages of the paper are filled with advertisements for a variety of products and services since the paper started in 1910.

Here is just a small sample of the black-and-white ads that filled the pages of Jackson’s newspaper around Christmas time over the years:

We do not know how many children sat and looked at the ads in the paper before making the wish list or asking Santa for a present. The Jackson Council of Commerce certainly hoped that more items were purchased from their stores than were ordered from retail catalogs. How effective these ads were at drawing in customers cannot be determined, but who would not want a new pocket knife, a new radio, or a half-priced permanent to look even lovelier this Christmas Season.

© 2022 Stephen D. Bowling