When Did Presidents Day Sales Start?

Yesterday was Presidents Day (although George Washington's actual birthday is still a few days away) and as usual, there were a few sales with that promotional theme. When did those sales first make their appearance locally, anyway? 

Presidents Day has only been around since the late 1960s, but roughly coincides with George Washington's Birthday. So I looked through vintage Lorain Journals for sales celebrating the birth of the Father of Our Country.

Surprisingly, it seems that the tradition started, in all places, in our nation's capital: Washington, D.C. Here's an article from the Feb. 22, 1954 Lorain Journal about the "fabulous sales," which included TVs and automobiles for 99 cents.

Note how the article mentions shoppers, "many of whom waited patiently throughout the night in front of the stores." One of them is a 57-year old Defense Dept. worker, "intent on getting his second 99 cent typewriter." It doesn't give his name, but we'll find it out in  this article (below), which appeared the following year in the Lorain Journal on Feb. 22, 1955.

There's even a photo of Mr. Raplee in front of the store, courtesy of Getty Images. Unfortunately his face is covered up by the Getty Images watermark!

The caption reads, "Eager Beaver Bargain Hunters Wait for Shop Opening. Washington, D.C.: Shoppers in the nation's capital have their hatchets out today in preparation for the annual Washington's birthday bargain hunt for such bargains as one cent wrist watches and 99 cent typewriters. W. Townsend Raplee, 58 year old Pentagon clerk, right, is the first in line for the third year in a row. He's been parked in front of the store since 8:30 p.m. Sunday. Left to right: R. Andrews; Annie May Layne; Carrie V. Holland and Raplee.

Perhaps the well-publicized sale in the nation's capital caught the attention of other stores, including those in Lorain. By the time of Washington's Birthday 1957, the Downtown Merchants organization flipped its (powdered) wig and went bonkers in its ads. This full page ad appeared in the Lorain Journal on Feb. 21, 1957.

Several full-pages of ads followed, such as the page below. But apparently there wasn't very much clip art with a George Washington theme available – yet.

The theme was repeated the following year in the Journal on Feb. 21, 1958, with more clip art used on the ad pages.