The History of Father's Day
Posted by Cynthia Chen on
On July 5th of 1908, a church in West Virginia put on the nation's first event in honor of fathers. It was a Sunday sermon in the memory of 362 men who died in an explosion at the Fairmont Coal Company mines. This was only one time though, and not an annual event.
The following year in Washington a woman named Sonora Smart Dodd tried to establish an official Father's Day. She went to churches, local businesses, and government officials to find support in doing this. The state of Washington ended up celebrating Father's Day on June 19th of 1910 which was the first statewide celebration for fathers.
The holiday then started to spread. Six years later, President Wilson celebrated the day by using telegraph signals to release a flag in Spokane, WA from all the way over in D.C. In 1924, President Coolidge encouraged state governments to participate in Father's Day. In 1972, President Nixon signed a proclamation making Father's Day a federal holiday.
This year father's day will be on June 20th!
source: https://www.history.com/topics/holidays/fathers-day