Labor Day 2017: Fun Facts For The Holiday

You celebrate Labor Day at the end of every summer, but do you know the history behind the holiday that honors those who toil? Here are five interesting facts about the special first Monday in September (the information is from the U.S. Department of Labor):

#1. When Was The First Labor Day?

The first Labor Day holiday was celebrated on Tuesday, Sept. 5, 1882, in New York City, in accordance with the plans of the Central Labor Union. The New York Tribune reported that, "The windows and roofs and even the lamp posts and awning frames were occupied by persons anxious to get a good view of the first parade in New York of workingmen of all trades united in one organization."

#2. Labor Day 101

The first state bill was introduced into the New York legislature, but the first to become law was passed by Oregon on February 21, 1887. During the year, four more states — Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York — created the Labor Day holiday by legislative enactment. By the end of the decade Connecticut, Nebraska and Pennsylvania had followed suit.

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#3. The Founder In Question

Who founded Labor Day? Well, that's a bit of a dispute. Some records point to a union guy named Peter J. McGuire, who was general secretary of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners and co-founder of the American Federation of Labor. He reportedly wanted a day to "honor those who from rude nature have delved and carved all the grandeur we behold." In other words, the American worker. But recent research points to Matthew Maguire, a machinist and secretary of a local International Association of Machinists in New Jersey, proposing the holiday in 1882. A picnic and demonstration was reportedly planned to celebrate.

#4. Becoming A National Holiday

After the first eight states created their own Labor Day holidays, by 1894, 23 other states had adopted the holiday in honor of workers, and on June 28 of that year, Congress passed an act making the first Monday in September of each year a legal holiday in the District of Columbia and the territories.

#5. Don't Wear White?

We've all heard about the old-school etiquette rule about not wearing white after Labor Day. So where the heck did it come from? It's hard to say, but this Time magazine article posits that it had to do with the well-heeled wearing white during their summer vacations and then changing back to dark colors for when they returned to their sooty, dusty city, wherever it was.

What we say: Wear whatever the heck you want! Happy Labor Day!

ILLUSTRATION/ US Department of Labor