The first Labor Day observance–a picnic and parade–was held in New York City on September 5, 1882. Parades like this one in Buffalo, New York, around 1900, soon became an important part of Labor Day festivities. Matthew Maguire, a machinist and secretary of the New York City Central Labor Union, probably first suggested the celebration in 1882 to recognize the contributions of workers to America. Local and regional Labor Day observances spread across the nation until, on June 28, 1894, the U.S. Congress passed an act making the first Monday in September a legal holiday.
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