Happy Father’s Day to all the dads who make University City more than a neighborhood. To help you celebrate, here are some Father’s Day History and Fun Facts, compiled by Diane Ahern from the History Channel at History.com.
- The Father’s Day tradition may have started on July 5, 1908, when a West Virginia church sponsored a one-time event in honor of fathers, a Sunday sermon in memory of the 362 men who had died in the previous December’s explosions at the Fairmont Coal Company mines in Monongah.
- The nation’s first Father’s Day was celebrated on June 19, 1910, in the state of Washington. However, it was not until 1972, 58 years after President Woodrow Wilson made Mother’s Day official, that the day honoring fathers became a nationwide holiday in the United States.
- When World War II began, advertisers began to argue that celebrating Father’s Day was a way to honor American troops and support the war effort. By the end of the war, Father’s Day may not have been a federal holiday, but it was a national institution.
- In 1972, in the middle of a hard-fought presidential re-election campaign, Richard Nixon signed a proclamation making Father’s Day a federal holiday at last.
- Today, economists estimate that Americans spend more than $1 billion each year on Father’s Day gifts.
Happy Father’s Day to all the dads who make University City more than a neighborhood; enjoy your day.
