Happy Father’s Day to all the amazing male role models. This include the grandpas, uncles, and other male (or female) figures. Have you ever wanted to know, when and how Father’s Day was created in the U.S.? According to History, Father’s Day was not an ideal holiday at first. There wasn’t a reason to celebrate it like Mother’s Day, until a mining explosion that killed hundreds of men in Fairmont, West Virginia, in 1907. Something had to be done to honor the hardworking men.
The Background Story
In 1908, a local West Virginia church help started the nation’s first Father’s Day. It was a way to remembered and honored the men who passed away from the coal mining accident. According to Almanac, a year later, a 27-year-old woman named Sonora Smart Dodd from Washington came up with an idea to have Father’s Day be an extended national holiday in the U.S. After several months of gathering supporters, Dodd was able to get the state of Washington to celebrate the fatherly holiday in 1910.
Furthermore, “President Wilson honored the day by using telegraph signals to unfurl a flag in Spokane when he pressed a button in Washington, D.C,” in 1916. President Coolidge honored Father’s Day as an observed (not on an actual celebrated date) holiday in 1924. In 1972, President Nixon signed an act, passed by Congress, to make Father’s Day a federal holiday.
Thank you to all fathers. Have a well-rested, packed full and memorable day!
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Updated on June 16, 2023
