Indiana County used to be the Christmas tree capital of the world.

In fact, it’s still the Christmas tree capital of the world — if the signs at the county line are to be believed.

“Other places have claimed to be, but we’re still the capital regardless because we’re the only ones that have the signs up along the road that say, ‘Welcome to the Christmas Tree Capital of the World,’” said Gregg Van Horn, president of the Indiana County Christmas Tree Growers’ Association (ICCTGA).

The group’s website is ChristmasTreeCapital.com.

The boast also is the official slogan of the Indiana County Tourist Bureau, whose logo is a Christmas tree drawn over an outline of Indiana County.

Once home to more than 200 Christmas tree growers, Indiana County today has about 23 growers, including dedicated Christmas tree farms, nurseries and landscapers.

Van Horn acknowledged the county no longer is the biggest producer of Christmas trees in the country, or even Pennsylvania. But the moniker reflects an important part of the county’s history and economic well-being.

“It all started here,” he said.

When Indiana County says it is the Christmas tree capital of the world, it means that, around 1918, it was the first county to cultivate Christmas trees as a farm crop.

“Murray C. Stewart, Sam Dible, Walter Schroth, Silas Streams, Fred Musser and others were first to plant various pines and spruces for (use as) Christmas trees,” according to the ICCTGA website.

In 1956, an estimated 700,000 trees were cut in Indiana County, according to the association. It was around this time that Forbes magazine and other press outlets began to use the term “Christmas tree capital” for Indiana County, Van Horn said.

“It just kind of stuck from then on,” he said.

Around 1958, Indiana County got a boost to its claim when another city — Shelton, Wash. — adopted the same title.

“(The claim) was repulsed when Walter Schroth, one of Indiana County’s nurserymen, revealed he had an order for 15,000 trees to be shipped to Tacoma, Wash.,” according to the association.

“That kind of blew it out of the water,” Van Horn said.

It didn’t hurt that Shelton was only an hour’s drive from Tacoma, but Indiana County was 2,572 miles away.

Van Horn noted that the county’s Christmas tree industry really took off after World War II and benefited from the country’s post-war boom.

“More people were buying the trees,” he said. “By the 1950s, Christmas trees were in high demand, and Indiana County had over 200 growers at the time.”

Van Horn, operator of Gregg Van Horn’s Tree Farm in Creekside, said the industry has suffered as growers have retired and not passed on the family business to the next generation.

“The kids don’t want anything to do with it. It’s a lot of work,” he said. “It’s a hard business to get in to, but I’m glad people still do like to get a real tree.”

Today, Indiana County ranks 30th in the country and sixth in the state, with tree sales of $1.5 million annually, said Shannon Powers, spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture.

“Pennsylvania ranks third nationally for Christmas tree production. The industry has a $28.9 million impact on the state economy, with 1,400 farms and nearly 31,000 acres of trees across the state,” she said.

Powers noted that this year’s winner of the Farm Show Christmas Tree Contest — Mahantongo Valley Farms in Northumberland County — was chosen to supply the 2019 Christmas tree for the White House. The tree was delivered on Monday.

The most popular varieties of Christmas trees grown in Indiana County include the Colorado spruce, concolor fir, Canaan fir, Douglas fir, Fraser fir, Norway spruce, Scotch pine, white pine and white spruce.

Van Horn currently has 5,000 Fraser fir and Canaan fir planted, but it will take about 10 years for them to mature.