We've all heard the basic story, that Coca Cola "invented" Santa... except that's not true, is it? The iconic 1931 Santa campaign was dreamed up by the D'Arcy Advertising Agency, with executive Archie Lee commissioning illustrator Haddon Sundblom to create the warm, human Santa that became the standard image we know and love today. However, the legend of St. Nicholas goes back to the 1300's, in England, Father Christmas was making the rounds and it was the immigrant Dutch in New York who really got the ball rolling in the U.S. in the early 1800's. Add Clement Moore's "Twas the Night Before Christmas" poem — a big hit in the 1820's —and Christmas (and Santa) was off and running. BUT even that, doesn't really tell the true story. Santa had been linked to sell other products, books and was famously depicted by Thomas Nast in 1881, Wizard of Oz writer L. Frank Baum in 1902 and Norman Rockwell had been using him on Saturday Evening Post covers throughout the 1920's.