

Though Columbus Day might be one of the most controversial federal holidays and is celebrated in some areas as Indigenous Peoples' Day, it's good to remember that some government services and businesses are closed on this day. The post office and most banks are closed, but the stock market and most retailers are open. 11.Ĭolumbus Day is a controversial national holiday, and many states celebrate Indigenous Peoples' Day instead.

MediaNews Group/Reading Eagle via Getty ImagesĬolumbus Day - or Indigenous Peoples' Day - is Oct. Test your knowledge of Christopher Columbus and this federal holiday by taking our Columbus Day Quiz.Post offices are closed and most mail isn't delivered on Columbus Day. Is Columbus Day about to sail off the edge of the world?.Communities with large Italian American populations may hold special Columbus Day festivities. The largest celebration of Columbus Day is in New York City, which hosts a huge parade. Presidential Proclamation (PL90-363) states that the observance of Columbus Day is always on the second Monday in October. Roosevelt.ġ971 – Columbus Day becomes a legal federal holiday in the United States. October 12th 1937 – First federal observance of Columbus Day, under President Franklin D. Tammany and held in New York City (300th anniversary of Columbus’ landing).ġ892 – President Benjamin Harrison issues a proclamation establishing a celebration of Columbus Day on the 400th anniversary of Columbus’ landing.Īpril 7th 1907 – Colorado becomes the first state to declare Columbus Day a legal holiday.ġ920 – Columbus Day begins being celebrated annually. Timeline of Columbus Dayġ792 – The first Columbus Day celebration is organized by The Society of St. Since 1971, the holiday has been celebrated on the second Monday in October. Franklin Roosevelt established the first federal observance of Columbus Day in 1937. With a large Italian immigrant population at the time, Colorado was the first US state to make Columbus Day an official holiday.

While there had been celebrations in 1792 to mark the 300th anniversary, Columbus Day was first officially proclaimed by President Benjamin Harrison in 1892, to mark the 400th anniversary of Columbus' landing in the Bahamas. The proclamation said, “On let the people, so far as possible, cease from toil and devote themselves to such exercises as may best express honor to the discoverer and their appreciation of the great achievements of the four completed centuries of American life.” It is now generally accepted that Columbus was not the earliest European explorer to reach the Americas and that Viking sailors had ventured as far as Newfoundland around 1000 AD. Instead, while trying to find a sea route to India, he made landfall on an island in the Bahamas that he named San Salvador. While the first voyage in 1492 was immensely significant, Columbus did not actually reach the American mainland until his third voyage in 1498. History of Columbus DayĬolumbus' voyages across the Atlantic Ocean initiated the European exploration and colonization of the Americas. It is not a legal state holidayĪccording to data from the Society for Human Resource Management, only 14% of organizations closed on Columbus Day in 2014. In Hawaii, Discovery Day is celebrated on the 2nd Monday in October, in recognition of the Polynesian discoverers of the Hawaiian Islands. In addition to a state level, in many cities, the day is now celebrated as Native Americans’ Day or Indigenous People’s Day. For a detailed list of which states observe Columbus Day, please use our state by state guide.Įven if a state observes Columbus Day as a holiday, some state offices may be still be open. Which states observe Columbus Day?Ĭolumbus Day is no longer observed in every state. The New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq remain open on this federal holiday. Most businesses remain open and retail stores may run special sales.

It is a Federal Reserve Bank holiday, so while banks may open, some transactions will not be processed. legal federal holidays, it is not considered a major one. Though Columbus Day is one of the 10 U.S. In the USA it is observed on the Second Monday in October. federal holiday commemorates the date when Christopher Columbus first set foot in the Americas.
