Labor Day, the annual national tribute to the contributions workers have made to our country, is observed in the United States on the first Monday in September. ASPPA Connect will not appear on Labor Day; to note the event, following are some facts concerning its establishment. ASPPA Connect will resume publication on Wednesday, Sept. 5.
On the morning of Sept. 5, 1882, a crowd of spectators filled the sidewalks of lower Manhattan near city hall and along Broadway to view the first Labor Day parade. A newspaper account of the day described “...men on horseback, men wearing regalia, men with society aprons, and men with flags, musical instruments, badges, and all the other paraphernalia of a procession.” The parade marched through lower Manhattan. 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.”
At noon, the marchers arrived at Reservoir Park, the termination point of the parade. Some returned to work, but most continued on to the post-parade party at Wendel's Elm Park at 92nd Street and Ninth Avenue; even some unions that had not participated in the parade showed up to join in the post-parade festivities that included speeches, a picnic, an abundance of cigars, and “Lager beer kegs... mounted in every conceivable place.”
- Some records show that Peter J. McGuire, general secretary of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners and a co-founder of the American Federation of Labor, was first in suggesting a day to honor those “who from rude nature have delved and carved all the grandeur we behold.”
- Recent research however, seems to support the contention that machinist Matthew Maguire, later the secretary of Local 344 of the International Association of Machinists in Paterson, N.J., proposed the holiday in 1882 while serving as secretary of the Central Labor Union in New York. What is clear is that the Central Labor Union adopted a Labor Day proposal and appointed a committee to plan a demonstration and picnic.
- The first measure establishing official recognition of labor to become law was enacted in Oregon on Feb. 21, 1887. Later that year, 1887 four more states — Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York — enacted bills creating a Labor Day holiday. By the end of the 1880s, Connecticut, Nebraska and Pennsylvania had followed suit, and by 1894, 23 more states had followed suit.
- On June 28, 1884, Congress passed an act making the first Monday in September of each year a legal holiday in the District of Columbia and the territories.
On the morning of Sept. 5, 1882, a crowd of spectators filled the sidewalks of lower Manhattan near city hall and along Broadway to view the first Labor Day parade. A newspaper account of the day described “...men on horseback, men wearing regalia, men with society aprons, and men with flags, musical instruments, badges, and all the other paraphernalia of a procession.” The parade marched through lower Manhattan. 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.”
At noon, the marchers arrived at Reservoir Park, the termination point of the parade. Some returned to work, but most continued on to the post-parade party at Wendel's Elm Park at 92nd Street and Ninth Avenue; even some unions that had not participated in the parade showed up to join in the post-parade festivities that included speeches, a picnic, an abundance of cigars, and “Lager beer kegs... mounted in every conceivable place.”
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