How Labor Day Began: A History of the 'Workingmen's Holiday'

The Labor Day holiday started out locally in the 1880s but became national after a railroad workers' strike.

A drawing of the first Labor Day celebration in New York City in 1882 Credit Wikimedia Commons

A 1956 3-cent stamp commemorating Labor Day Credit U.S. Department of Labor

When the Labor Day holiday began is well documented.

Who first suggested the holiday isn't as clear cut.

The Labor Day holiday was first proposed in 1882, according to the U. S. Department of Labor's web site.

Some historians say Peter McGuire, the general secretary of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners and a co-founder of the American Federation of Labor, was first to suggest a day to honor those "who from rude nature have delved and carved all the grandeur we behold."

However, many historians credit Matthew Maguire, a machinist, with first suggesting the holiday.

They say Maguire, who later became 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.

Either way, the Central Labor Union adopted a Labor Day proposal that year and appointed a committee to plan a demonstration and picnic.

The first Labor Day was celebrated on Tuesday, Sept. 5, 1882, in New York City under the guidance of the Central Labor Union.

A second Labor Day was observed a year later on Sept. 5, 1883, in New York.

In 1884, the labor union selected the first Monday of September as the day to celebrate Labor Day. It urged other municipalities to observe a "workingmen's holiday" on that same date.

Many regions held their first Labor Day celebrations in 1885.

In February 1887, Oregon became the first state to recognize the first Monday in September as Labor Day.

Later that year, Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York followed suit. By 1894, 23 states had adopted Labor Day holidays.

In June 1894, Congress approved a Labor Day recognition for Washington, D.C., as well as U.S. territories. In 1893, railroad workers in Pullman, Illinois had called a strike in protest of reduced wages and a 16-hour workday. Pullman was a company town controlled by the Pullman Palace Car Company. Despite pay cuts, the workers got no cut in the rent paid on their homes, which were owned by Pullman.

The strike halted all passenger and mail traffic west of Chicago. President Grover Cleveland sent 12,000 troops to put down the strike. The new holiday, rushed through Congress, might have been Cleveland's attempt to quell public anger over his handling of the strike, according to The Writer's Almanac.

The first labor council proposal for a Labor Day holiday recommended a street parade to exhibit to the public "the strength and esprit de corps of the trade and labor organizations" of the community, followed by a festival for the recreation and amusement of the workers and their families.

That model is the basis for most Labor Day celebrations today.

Since then, Labor Day has also become the official starting date for political campaigns gearing up for November elections. Other countries commemorate International Workers' Day, the Labor Day equivalent, on May 1.

Here are a few interesting Labor Day facts taken from an article on The Huffington Post.

Labor Day had its origins in Canada, where in 1872 a parade was held in Toronto to support a strike against a 58-hour work week.

The tradition of not wearing white after Labor Day may have started in the early 20th century. That's when white was the color worn by Americans well-to-do enough to decamp from their city digs to warmer climates for months at a time.

According to labor statistics from 2009, here is a breakdown of the number of professionals in various fields.

Firefighters: 258,000
Hairdressers, hairstylists and cosmetologists: 718,000
Chefs and head cooks: 281,000
Musicians, singers and related workers 179,000
Bakers 183,000
Taxi drivers and chauffeurs 286,000
Service station attendants 96,000
Farmers and ranchers 825,000
Pharmacists 232,000
Teachers 6.5 million

Obama Detroit Labor Day speech to be preceded by Aretha singing

Washington— President Barack Obama's Labor Day address in Detroit will be open to the public and follow entertainment by Aretha Franklin and the Mosaic Youth Theatre, the White House said Thursday.

Obama will be in Detroit to meet "with workers and their families as well as discuss his bipartisan efforts to create jobs and strengthen our economy," the White House said in a statement. His trip to Michigan is scheduled to run just over two hours.

This is Obama's second trip to Detroit as president and first that will be open to the public. Many Michigan members of Congress are expected to attend, including Sen. Carl Levin, D-Detroit; Reps. Sandy Levin, D-Royal Oak, John Dingell, D-Dearborn, Gary Peters, D-Bloomfield Township and Hansen Clarke, D-Detroit.

Obama will be accompanied by Labor Secretary Hilda Solis. Union presidents, including AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, Teamsters President James P. Hoffa and UAW President Bob King, are also expected to attend.

Obama will tout the turnaround of the domestic U.S. auto industry as he speaks from a General Motors Co. parking lot. As part of a $49.5 billion bailout, the Treasury Department still owns 26.5 percent of GM.

On Labor Day 2008, when he was a senator from Illinois, Obama spoke to tens of thousands of people in Detroit. Obama prompted laughs when he did a shout-out to the Queen of Soul, humming a few bars of Franklin's song "Chain of Fools," warbling "Chain chain chain …" as she beamed from the audience.

Franklin will be singing "Chain of Fools" this time, as well as two other songs.

Obama is not expected to be present for the entertainment, though that could change if his schedule permits. Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama have made $15,000 in personal donations to the Mosaic Youth Theatre, which is run by Rick Sperling, the brother of White House National Economic Council director Gene Sperling, who is a Michigan native.

The students at Mosaic Youth Theatre will sing the National Anthem and an arrangement of "I'll Be There."

"This is going to be unbelievable thrill for these kids," said Rick Sperling. Students from the group performed for President Bill Clinton "and they still talk about it today."

Obama's visit is especially meaningful to Detroit students, Sperling noted, as the first African-American president.

Detroit is by far the largest majority African-American city in the United States. According to the 2010 Census, Detroit has 590,226 African-Americans, which represents 83 percent of city residents.

The Labor Day event will take place at the General Motors parking lot next to the Renaissance Center on Atwater Street, between St. Antoine and Beaubien. The event is scheduled to start around 1:15 p.m.

The public can enter at the corner of Rivard and Atwater streets, and the gates will open at 10 a.m.

The White House said all attendees will go through airport-like security and should bring as few personal items as possible. No bags, sharp objects, chairs, umbrellas, liquids or signs will be allowed inside the venue.Cameras and cell phones are permitted.

Obama last came to Detroit as president in July 2009 to visit General Motors Co. and Chrysler Group LLC factories, but he had no public events.

'Apollo 18' Poised to Take Down 'The Help' During Slow Labor Day Weekend

Nobody on the road, nobody on the beach; you can feel it at the box office, the summer's out of reach.

But with a record tentpole season officially winding down in typically quiet Labor Day Weekend fashion, is finishing flat or better in 2011 out of reach for the domestic motion-picture business?

That's a key question to ask, as two PG-13-rated sci-fi/horror movies -- Weinstein Dimension's "Apollo 13" and Relativity's "Shark Night 3D" -- hit the market. (Focus Features' adult drama "The Debt" premiered Thursday and is also entering its first weekend.)

Back to that big-picture box office question in a moment ... first, we'll deal with the weekend at hand.

Also read: Go Back to School, Hollywood: Summer Movies Mangle the Facts

Pre-release projections for the found-footage-themed "Apollo 18" are in the mid-teens range, which puts the $5 million movie in position to end "The Help's" two-week perch atop the domestic box office.

Asked about Weinstein's entry into the potentially lucrative found-footage horror realm -- a sub-genre plundered to great success in past years by the likes of "Blair Witch Project" and "Paranormal Activity" -- Weinstein distribution president Kyle Davies parried: "We found the footage in a crater in the Ukraine," he told TheWrap, tongue in cheek.

In reality, Russions were involved, but they're hardly new to Hollywood, with producer Timur Bekmambetov best known for directing 2008's "Wanted."

Releasing "Apollo 18" in 3,328 theaters in the U.S. and Canada, Davies says a gross in the $11 million - $14 million range will render the company very pleased with its minimal investment.

The film revolves around a secret, ill-fated NASA moon mission, undone by aliens. Weinstein won't let critics peruse the rocket before launching it, but tracking ain't that bad.

Also read: Horror Movies Hit the Dead Zone This Summer

According to research firm NRG, the film is registering 86 percent "total awareness" among males 25 and older, with 42 percent conveying "definite interest" in seeing the movie and 11 percent calling it their "first choice" the next time they enter the multiplex.

Moviegoers looking for thrills and chills this weekend will also have the option of seeing Relativity's "Shark Week 3D," which will be released in about 2,800 theaters in the U.S. and Canada, 2,500 of them offering it in gloriously hyped 3D.

Produced by Sierra Affinity on a budget said to be in the mid-$20 million range, Relativity acquired U.S. rights on essentially service-deal terms, agreeing to pay for prints and advertising. (E1 is handling Canadian distribution.)

Relativity is expecting a full-weekend gross of around $8 million - $10 million.

Also new this weekend, Focus' "The Debt," an early contender to the awards race with a 76 percent Rotten Tomatoes score, opened Wednesday at 1,826 North American locations, grossing an estimated $970,532.

Also read: Review: 'The Debt,' a Taut Thriller Well Worth the Wait, Ushers in Fall Season

That performance didn't initially impress TheWrap's box-office analysis super-computer. A Focus representative later reminded our cyber-senient that the studio's "Constant Gardener" debuted to a similar scenario in 2005 -- $929,829 at 1,387 locations on a pre-Labor Day Wednesday -- before grossing $82.5 million worldwide and garnering a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for co-star Rachel Weisz.

Analysts predict that "The Debt" -- which stars Helen Mirren as a woman dealing with her past as a Israeli Massad Nazi hunter -- will gross around $7 million - $8 million over the four-day holiday period.

Other box office highlights this weekend: Lionsgate will sneak-peak its mixed-marital-arts drama "The Warrior" in 550 locations, while its Latin market-targeted Pantelion label will release foreign film "Saving Private Perez" in 161 theaters

Other limited openings will include Samuel Goldwyn' R-rated comedy "A Good Old-Fashioned Orgy," starring Leslie Bibb, Will Forte and Jason Sudeikis.

Now, back to the multi-billion-dollar question: can the domestic box office, which teetered past 20 percent into the red in the early part of the year, finish 2011 in the black after what was the top-grossing summer of all time?

Currently, the U.S. and Canadian market stands at around $7.2 billion, about 4.8 percent off a 2010 frame that ended up at $10.565 billion, according to BoxOfficeMojo.com.

Interestingly, the market is down only 1.2 percent from the same period in 2009, which ended up at an all-time high of $10.595 billion.

With sequels to such franchises as Alvin and the Chipmunks, Sherlock Holmes, Paranormal Activity and Twilight on the horizon, not to mention other big titles like DreamWorks Animation's "Puss in Boots" and DreamWorks' Steven Spielberg-directed "War Horse," it's certainly not inconceivable that the domestic market could rattle off another $3.4 billion or more by the time the year is completed.

Of course, the year's annual right of Harry Potter box-office passage -- which occured in November of last year -- is already on the books (it's closing in on a phenomenal $1.3 billion worldwide), so there will be no fourth-quarter Potter bonanza to look forward to.

Then again, if this year's box office is able to avoid some of the dead spots that plagued the latter half of 2010 -- such as the downer December that included such duds as "The Tourist" and "How Do You Know?" -- it should end up actually breaking the record.

In any event, we shall see, starting with a post-tentpole season home stretch run that begins this weekend.