Most of us stop playing pretend games where we dress up in a costume by the time we hit puberty (except for the odd Halloween party here and there). Not James Edgar. No, James was famous for playing dress-up well into his 60s. He often donned costumes that made him into George Washington, a sea captain, a member of the first nations tribe, and other historical or interesting characters. James lived in Brockton, Massachusetts, but he was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1843. When he made his way to the United States in the 1870s, James opened a dry good store in that Massachusetts town.

And James made the store a great success. His natural talent for showmanship and publicity drew crowds to the business. And you never knew who would greet you there. One day, James might be dressed as Lincoln; another day, he would be holding the door open for customers garbed as Columbus. The popularity of James and his theatrics also carried over into other businesses on the main thoroughfare of Brockton. People who flocked to James’s store would then go down the block to the diner or up the street to the butcher’s shop. The other shop owners thus embraced the wacky Scotsman and his antics.

James didn’t hoard all his wealth, either. He gained a reputation for being one of the most generous men in town. If a family needed its rent paid, James would do it. If a child had to have an operation, but the parents couldn’t afford it, James would arrange for payment with the doctor. When a young person needed a job, James would find work for that teen in his warehouse or sweeping up the store after hours. And, unusually for that time, James instituted a lay-away plan for people who couldn’t afford to pay for purchases all at once. No one was refused. And he didn’t charge interest, either. These and many other acts of kindness and charity across the years caused the grateful community to name a city park after him shortly after his death in 1909.

However, there was one character James dressed up as that is remembered most of all. That character made indelible impressions on those who encountered James dressed this way. In the 1970s, during an interview about James Edgar, one 90-year old citizen of Brockton recalled that he, “couldn’t believe my eyes. You can’t imagine what it was like. It was a dream come true. I rounded the corner of an aisle of the store, and there he was! And he talked to me!” Such was the impact that this particular outfit had on people. Families came from as far away as Providence, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire, and even the big city of Boston to see James. They lined around the block outside his store. And James, as far as we know, was the first person to dress up like this in public. Oh, of course, today, you see this character everywhere, almost on every street corner during the holiday season. But James was the first.

You see, no one before James Edgar had ever dressed up as Santa Claus.