What is Labor Day and why is it celebrated?
Here are five things to know about the unofficial end of summer.
1. Labor Day is the first Monday of September.
2. It marks a day to “the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country,” according to the Department of Labor.
3. It was first recognized by municipal governments in 1885 and 1886. Then states started honoring workers — the first was Oregon on Feb. 21, 1887, followed by Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York, the Department of Labor said.
Congress passed an act on June 28, 1894, to make the first Monday in September a legal holiday in the country. President Grover Cleveland signed the bill into law, the History channel said.
4. Various men are credited with starting the holiday. Some said Peter J. McGuire, general secretary of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners and co-founder of the American Federation of Labor, first proposed the day to honor workers.
Others claim Matthew Maguire started the holiday. He was a secretary of the International Association of Machinists, Local 334. Some believe Maguire, not McGuire, proposed labor day in 1882 when he was secretary of New York’s Central Labor Union. The union accepted Maguire’s proposal and planned a demonstration and picnic, the Department of Labor said.
5. The first Labor Day celebration was held Sept. 5, 1882, following plans set by the Central Labor Union.
It was held in lower Manhattan on Broadway as “men on horseback, men wearing regalia, men with society aprons, and men with flags, musical instruments, badges, and all other paraphernalia of a procession” paraded through the streets. After the parade, a picnic started at Reservoir Park, which included speeches, cigars and “lager beer kegs ... mounted in every conceivable place.” It ran from 1 p.m. until 9 p.m. with almost 25,000 union members and their families in attendance, the Department of Labor said.
The group held a celebration again a year later.
Cox Media Group
