Check It Out

Public law 90-363 sets Labor Day on the first Monday in September. The origins of the holiday, however, are not totally clear. Most likely, Matthew Maguire proposed the holiday in honor of workers in 1882 while serving as secretary of the Central Labor Union in New York. A Union committee planned the first Labor Day holiday which was celebrated on Tuesday, September 5, 1882 and a second celebration took place a year later. In 1884, the first Monday in September was selected as the official date for Labor Day and the Central Labor Union encouraged other states to follow New York’s example and celebrate a “workingmen’s holiday”. The idea spread throughout the country. In 1894, Congress passed an act making Labor Day a federal holiday.

Labor Day, as originally conceived, included a parade to honor the trade and labor organizations of the community followed by a festival for the workers and their families. Later speeches by prominent people were introduced. Today, some communities still have Labor Day parades, speeches and picnics. Many Americans, however, taking advantage of the day off work, head for parks, beaches and resort areas with family and friends to enjoy one of the last days of summer.

Wauwatosa has a national treasure right in its midst – it is the Schoonmaker Reef. A National Historic Landmark since 1998, the Schoonmaker Reef is located on the bluff that rises above the businesses from the 6200 to 6800 block of West State Street. At this site, fossils that are more than 4 million years old were found.

According to Wauwatosa Historical Society records, a geologist was summoned to the Schoonmaker quarry in 1862 after digging there led to the discovery of an unusual rock mound. The site was studied by geologists for decades and is listed as the first discovered geologically significant site in the Midwest.

Wauwatosa’s first physician, Dr. Fisk Holbrook Day, obtained some of the fossils from the reef. His collection today sits on display in the halls of Harvard University.