The United States Department of Labor recalls that the first Labor Day was celebrated on a Tuesday (Sep. 5, 1882). It wasn’t until its status as a federal holiday that Labor Day acquired the well-known "first Monday of September" slot in 1894. Some think Grover Cleveland chose this date to counterbalance the madness of May 1's International Worker's Day, which commemorates the tragic Haymarket Affair of 1886 and raises more ire than it does patriotism.
The most notable result of the placement, writes PBS News, is the incidental three-day weekend that allows for friends and families to clog the highways, the picnic grounds, "and their own backyards--and bid farewell to summer."
