Where did Labor Day start? Here’s a look at the origins of the national holiday
The unofficial end of summer is upon us. For many, Labor Day serves as a day off and a last chance to experience the best summer has to offer with pool parties, cookouts, parades and more.
But why do most of us actually have the first Monday in September off from work? It’s great that we get to experience some more fun in the sun just as the kiddos are heading back to school, but it’s important to understand how and why the national holiday began.
The rise of unions and Labor Day
The effort to recognize American workers began in the late 1800s, when many adults and children were working grueling hours in factories across the country. During that time period, labor unions “grew more prominent and vocal” about workers rights and workplace conditions. Strikes and rallies began popping up as organizers fought for better pay.
According to the Department of Labor, workers in New York City celebrated the first Labor Day in the U.S. on September 5, 1882. That day, between 10,000 to 20,000 workers marched across lower Manhattan in the country’s first ever Labor Day parade. The frivolity continued afterward in Reservoir Park, where a party commenced that was complete with “lager beer kegs ... mounted in every conceivable place.”
Beer and Labor Day ... some things never change.
Who came up with the idea for Labor Day?
That’s a tough one to answer, as it’s a question that historians have been debating for decades.
It comes down to two men with similar last names: Matthew Maguire and Peter J. McGuire. Both men were present at that first Labor Day parade in 1882, and both served as union leaders in their time.
McGuire was general secretary of the Brotherhood of Carpenters, and proposed a “general holiday for the laboring classes” in 1882, records show.
Maguire, on the other hand, also allegedly proposed the holiday in 1882, and an opinion story published in the Paterson Morning Call after it became recognized at the federal level labeled him as “the undisputed author of Labor Day as a holiday.”
Maybe we can split the difference and acknowledge that both union leaders played a major role in the birth of Labor Day?
What states celebrated Labor Day first?
While the first Labor Day parade occurred in New York City in 1882, states didn’t begin officially recognizing the holiday for a few more years. Still, New York was among those at the forefront. In 1887, the state government passed a bill to establish the holiday, along with Oregon, Colorado, Massachusetts and New Jersey. In the next few years, Connecticut, Nebraska and Pennsylvania passed similar laws to adopt the holiday.
In 1894, Congress passed a law to make the first Monday in September a national holiday, and President Grover Cleveland signed it into law on June 29, 1894. The law reads:
”Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, that the first Monday of September in each year, being the day celebrated and known as Labor’s Holiday, is hereby made a legal public holiday, to all intents and purposes, in the same manner as Christmas, the first day of January, the twenty-second day of February, the thirtieth day of May, and the fourth day of July are now by law made public holidays.”
You may be wondering why February 22 and May 30 are mentioned in the law above. Those specific dates for Washington’s Birthday (President’s Day) and Memorial Day were later amended to the third Monday in February and last Monday in May when Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act in 1968.
This story was originally published September 2, 2022 at 1:00 AM with the headline "Where did Labor Day start? Here’s a look at the origins of the national holiday."
