- Labor Day started as a part of the labor union movement, to recognize the contributions of men and women in the US workforce.
- Canada is said to have originated the idea of hosting a day honoring the labor movement. In 1872, they held a “Nine-Hour Movement” to show support for striking workers.
- The first celebrated US Labor Day was on Tuesday, September 5, 1882, in New York City, planned by the Central Labor Union. 10,000 workers marched from City Hall all the way to 42nd Street and then met with their families in Wendel’s Elm Park for a picnic, concert, and speeches.
- Oregon was the first state to celebrate Labor Day as a legal holiday in 1887.
- The decision to make Labor Day the first Monday of September was approved on June 28, 1894 and signed into law by Grover Cleveland.
- Labor Day came about more than two decades BEFORE the US Department of Labor existed.
- The average workday in the 19th century was 12 hours long, 7 days a week and sometimes children as young as 5 were working in factories! The Adamson Act was passed on September 3, 1916, to establish an eight-hour workday.
- Historians say the expression “no white after Labor Day” comes from the upper class, who would return from their summer vacations and stow away their lightweight, white summer clothes as they returned back to school and work. Coco Chanel broke this rule in the 1920s by wearing white all year round.
- Today, Labor Day is seen as a chance to celebrate the last weekend of summer.
Finally (and most importantly),
- Labor Day is the unofficial end of Hot Dog season. You know what to do.