The U. S. Dept. of Labor website has a nice history of the holiday here. It notes,"Before it was a federal holiday, Labor Day was recognized by labor activists and individual states. After municipal ordinances were passed in 1885 and 1886, a movement developed to secure state legislation. New York was the first state to introduce a bill, but Oregon was the first to pass a law recognizing Labor Day, on February 21, 1887.
"During 1887, four more states – Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York – passed laws creating a Labor Day holiday. By the end of the decade Connecticut, Nebraska and Pennsylvania had followed suit. By 1894, 23 more states had adopted the holiday, and on June 28, 1894, Congress passed an act making the first Monday in September of each year a legal holiday."
The above ad for the City Bank Company was the only ad I could find in the Journal around Labor Day 1962 that even addressed the holiday.
Labor Day 2022 will go down as one that took place in an odd time in our history – when a lot of people simply aren't working no matter how generous the hourly wages have become. How are they are making ends meet? Nobody knows.
Anyway, have a safe and happy Labor Day!
