As reported Dec. 12, 1948, in The Sun:

Between twelve and fifteen thousand adults and children swamped the little town of Savage, Howard County yesterday for a glimpse of Santa Claus's future home in Maryland.

They came as the guests of Harry H. Heim, a Baltimorean who purchased the town's main industry -- a 150 year-old textile mill -- last August and converted it to the manufacture of Christmas ornaments.

As Governor Lane said:

"We hope to provide a home in Maryland permanently for Santa Claus so he won't have to go back to the North Pole."

Santa Claus was so busy posing for a score of newsreel and newspaper photographers that he never got a chance to address the audience from the speaker's stand.

But the children who rode in the three ten-car specials of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad got an opportunity to shake Santa's hand and greet him as he walked down the aisles.

[Paul McCardell, Sun researcher]