Labor Day is celebrated on the first Monday of September and is a tribute to what American workers have done to build the strength, prosperity and well-being of our country.
No one knows for sure of who first came up with the idea of this holiday for American workers.
Peter J. McGuire, who was general secretary of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners and cofounder of the American Federation of Labor, is believed to be the first to suggest that we honor those “who from rude nature have delved and carved all the grandeur we behold.”
Others believe that Matthew Maguire, a machinist, founded the holiday. He was secretary of the Central Labor Union in New York and research supports that he proposed the holiday in 1882. We know the Central Labor Union adopted a Labor Day proposal and appointed a committee to set up a demonstration and picnic.
The first Labor Day holiday was celebrated on a Tuesday. The event was held in New York City on September 5, 1882, and was set up by the Central Labor Union. The second Labor Day was celebrated on Wednesday, the 5th of September, 1883.
In 1884, the first Monday in September was selected as the holiday. It was originally proposed that way and the Central Labor Union urged others around the country to follow their lead. In 1885, many industrial centers of the country joined in on the celebration.
On June 28, 1894, Congress passed an act making the first Monday in September a legal holiday.
The U.S. Department of Labor says, “The vital force of labor added materially to the highest standard of living and the greatest production the world has ever known and has brought us closer to the realization of our traditional ideals of economic and political democracy.”