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The First Snowman on Paper
The story behind this little fellow is actually quite involved and horrible. Found after seven years of research in The Royal Library in The Hague in the margins of an illuminated manuscript for the Book of Hours, ca. 1380.

Let's just say it involves the plague, anti-Semitism and the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

World's Largest Snowman. Bethel, Maine

World War I Snowman
What’s amazing is the snowman’s connection to war. War and snowmen have been linked since before the American Revolution. He played a role in French Revolution of 1871 and the Massacre of 1690, one of the bloodiest events in early American history. It doesn’t make a difference which country or cause...if it snowed, snowmen would show up on the battlefield. The reasons for this weird association between a couple of man’s favorite all-time activities is not clear except to say that snowman-making holds a common appeal that crosses borders and transcends nationalities. When you put young men in a snowstorm, there is bound to be a snowball or two–remember that wayward snowball that triggered the Boston Massacre. And as any snowman expert will tell you, where there’s snowballs, there’s snowmen.
But no one was more fond of the snowman than the Germans of WWI. I have dozens of similar photos like this but none as dramatic as this. 

Fine example of The Renaissance Snowman.

Harper's Weekly, 1874