History of Santa Claus, Ind., and letters from around the world

Whether you have been naughty or nice during this yuletide season, have you wondered how a sleepy village founded in southwestern Indiana during the 1840s became the country's only town that has a post office with the Santa Claus name? Hundreds of thousands of "Dear Santa'' letters from children around the world have been delivered to Santa Claus, Ind., since the early 1900s. And the Spencer County town (approximate pop.: 2,580) has become a tourist destination, with an internal, recreated historic village that includes a Santa Claus Museum, a church built in the 1880s and a towering Santa statue that weighs 40 tons. To celebrate the season and its spirit, Hoosier History Live will explore the evolution of the unusual town (its original name was not Santa Claus) and the letters, which are answered by a joyful army of community volunteers known as "elves". They toil in the recreated historic village, which opened within the town in 2006.