Presidents’ Day has been around for quite some time, dating all the way back to the late 1870s. It always falls on the third Monday of February. This year Presidents’ Day takes place on Monday, the 20th.
The holiday is the day to look back on all that the presidents of the past and present have done for our country. But how exactly did this celebratory holiday come about? Below will be some historical highlights of how Presidents’ Day came to be.
How Presidents’ Day Came About
Presidents’ Day started off as a day to recognize America’s first president, George Washington. Washington was a military officer, one of the Founding Fathers and the first president of the United States of America. Washington served as president from 1789 to 1797. At the time Washington was one of the most important figures in America.
Before the name “Presidents’ Day” was official for the memorial holiday, it was once known as Washington’s Birthday. The first president’s birthday was on February 22. “Washington’s Birthday” didn’t become a federal holiday until the late 1870s.
Washington’s Birthday
In the beginning the holiday was directed to the District of Columbia but in 1885 was broadened to include the whole country. Washington’s Birthday joined the only four other nationally recognized federal bank holidays. These holidays included: Christmas Day, Thanksgiving, New Years Day and the Fourth of July.
Changing from Washington’s Birthday to Presidents’ Day
The shift from the name Washington’s Birthday to Presidents’ Day happened in the late 1960s with the Uniform Monday Holiday Act. This act would combine some federal holidays onto the same Monday. This way the federal holidays would all be on the same day instead of spread out throughout the year.
The act would also combine Washington’s birthday with Abraham Lincoln’s, whose birthday was February 12. One other aspect to the act is that it would give a three-day weekend for the nation’s workers. The Uniform Monday Holiday Act was passed in 1968 and took effect in 1971.
Presidents’ Day Today
Presidents’ Day today is celebrated all throughout America. Public celebrations are held in Washington, D.C., and many businesses hold a Presidents’ Day sale. Schools make sure their students know the importance of the holiday and teach about how it came about and why it is a day to remember. Presidents’ Day may not be one of the favorite holidays, but it is still an important one to remember.
– by Ari Hurdsman (18) Junction
Feature image caption: Mount Rushmore. Courtesy Michael/Pexels.
Ari Hurdsman – Junction
Ari Hurdsman is a junior journalist at the Byway. She just recently moved to Ephraim, Utah, where she is a freshman at Snow College. She enjoys writing about Piute sports, and she’s really good at it! In her free time, she enjoys singing, dancing, reading and hanging out with friends and family.