Tag: American History

The History of Labor Day

~ Online Stores ~ Leave a comment

Celebrated on the first Monday of every September, Labor Day honors the contributions and achievements of the American worker. Becoming a federal holiday in 1894, Labor Day originated during one of American labor history’s most dismal chapters.

At the height of the Industrial Revolution in the United States during the late 1800s, the average American worked 12-hour days, 7-days a week. And this was just to manage a basic living. Also, and despite restrictions in some states, children as young as 5 or 6 worked in mills, factories, and mines earning a fraction of their adult counterparts’ wages. Workers of all ages, the very poor and recent immigrants, often faced extremely unsafe working conditions, with insufficient access to fresh air, sanitary facilities, and breaks.

As manufacturing work replaced agriculture as the main source of American employment, labor unions grew more prominent and vocal. They began organizing strikes and rallies to protest poor conditions and pressed employers to renegotiate hours and pay. In New York City on September 5, 1882, 10,000 workers took unpaid time off to march from City Hall to Union Square, holding the first Labor Day parade in U.S. history.

Many of these events turned violent during this period, including the infamous Haymarket Riot of 1886, when several Chicago policemen and workers were killed. Then on May 11, 1894, employees of the Pullman Palace Car Company in Chicago went on strike to protest wage cuts and the firing of union representatives. Two months later, the American Railroad Union led by Eugene V. Debs, called for a boycott of all Pullman railway cars, crippling railroad traffic nationwide. To break the strike, the federal government dispatched troops to Chicago, unleashing a wave of riots that resulted in the deaths of more than a dozen workers. These events, among many others, brought workers’ rights squarely into the public’s view.

The idea of a “workingmen’s holiday,” celebrated on the first Monday in September, caught on in other industrial centers across the country, and many states passed legislation recognizing it. Congress, however, would not legalize the holiday until 12 years later after the massive unrest involving the Pullman Palace Car Company. In an attempt to repair ties with the American workers, Congress passed an act making Labor Day a legal holiday in the District of Columbia and the territories.

More than a century later, the true founder of Labor Day has yet to be identified. While many credit Peter J. McGuire, who co-founded the American Federation of Labor, others have suggested that Matthew Maguire, a secretary of the Central Labor Union, first proposed the holiday.

United States Flag Store is here to answer all your questions. Feel free to give us a toll-free call at 1-877-734-2458 or email us at support@onlinestores.com.

National Pennsylvania Day

~ Online Stores ~ Leave a comment

July 20th, 2018 is National Pennsylvania Day! Why July 20th, when Pennsylvania entered the Union on December 12, 1787? No idea. Nevertheless, we’ll take this opportunity to learn some fun facts about Pennsylvania (or P-A as we like to call it). And even though I’m from Pittsburgh, I’ll throw some love out to Philadelphia, too.

Pennsylvania’s State flag is more of a square than a rectangle. It is composed of a blue field on which the State Coat of Arms is embroidered. The Pennsylvania coat of arms features a shield crested by an American bald eagle, flanked by horses, and adorned with symbols of Pennsylvania’s strengths—a ship carrying state commerce to all parts of the world; a clay-red plough, a symbol of Pennsylvania’s rich natural resources; and three golden sheaves of wheat, representing fertile fields and Pennsylvania’s wealth of human thought and action. An olive branch and cornstalk cross limbs beneath—symbols of peace and prosperity. The scroll at the bottom reads Virtue, Liberty and Independence.

We all know that Pennsylvania is rich with history, so let’s learn some fun and interesting facts about Pennsylvania:

The Philadelphia Eagles and the Pittsburgh Steelers merged to form the Steagles for one season in 1943. The teams merged because both lost so many players to military service during WWII.

In 1909 the first baseball stadium was built in Pittsburgh (Forbes Field).

The first daily newspaper was published in Philadelphia on Sept. 21, 1784.

Pennsylvania is the birthplace of a lot of America’s favorite junk food. A short list of Pennsylvania-founded companies includes Rita’s Water Ice, Hershey’s, Tastykake, Just Born (makers of Peeps), Auntie Anne’s, Herr’s, Planters, Utz, Wise, and Snyder’s of Hanover. Many of these are located in a part of central Pennsylvania that’s commonly called the Snack Belt.

The iconic banana split sundae was born in 1904 in Latrobe, Pa., when 23-year-old David Evans Strickler was experimenting with new sundaes while apprenticing at the local Tassel Pharmacy.

United States Flag Store is here to answer all your questions. Feel free to give us a toll free call at 1-877-734-2458 or email us at support@onlinestores.com.

Celebrating Flag Day

~ Online Stores ~ Leave a comment

Flag Day is celebrated in America on June 14th to commemorate the day the first flag resolution was passed. On June 14, 1777, the Second Continental Congress passed a flag resolution stating:

Resolved, That the flag of the United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new Constellation.

The first national observance of Flag Day was on June 14, 1877; 100 years after the flag resolution was adopted by the Continental Congress.

So, who came up with the idea of Flag Day? In the late 19th century, schoolteachers all over the United States began steering patriotic ceremonies commemorating Flag Day as a way to teach children about history. One such schoolteacher was Bernard J. Cigrand, who is often referred to as the “Father of Flag Day.” He lobbied Congress for many years for Flag Day to be officially observed.

Other patriotic groups, including the Colonial Dames and the Sons of the American Revolution, also spent years trying to convince Congress to make Flag Day official.

Inspired by these three decades of state and local celebrations, President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation stating that June 14 shall be National Flag Day in May of 1916. While Flag Day was celebrated in various communities for years after President Wilson’s proclamation, it was not until August 3rd, 1949 that it was made official by President Truman, who signed an Act of Congress to designate June 14th of each year as National Flag Day.

United States Flag Store is here to answer all your questions. Feel free to give us a toll free call at 1-877-734-2458 or email us at support@onlinestores.com.

Memorial Day

~ Online Stores ~ Leave a comment

On Memorial Day we honor the men and women who have died while serving in the U.S. military. This day is observed by visiting cemeteries or memorials, holding family gatherings, and participating in parades. Originally known as Decoration Day, it originated in the years following the Civil War and became an official federal holiday in 1971.

By the time the American Civil War had ended in the spring of 1865, more lives had been claimed than in any other conflict is U.S. history. This required the establishment of the country’s first national cemeteries. By the late 1860s, various towns and cities had begun holding springtime tributes to these countless fallen soldiers by decorating their graves with flowers and reciting prayers.

While it is unclear where this tradition had originated, what with numerous different communities independently initiating the memorial gatherings, Waterloo, New York was declared the official birthplace of Memorial Day by the federal government in 1966. Waterloo –  which first celebrated the day on May 5, 1866 –  was chosen because it hosted an annual, community-wide event, during which businesses closed and residents decorated the graves of soldiers with flowers and flags.

On May 5, 1868, General John A. Logan, leader of an organization for Northern Civil War veterans, called for a nationwide day of remembrance later that month. General Logan chose May 30th and called it Decoration Day. The date was chosen because it wasn’t the anniversary of any particular Civil War battle.

On the first Decoration Day, General James Garfield made a speech at Arlington National Cemetery, where 5,000 participants decorated the graves of 20,000 Union and Confederate soldiers buried there. Many Northern states held similar commemorative events and by 1890, each one had made Decoration Day an official state holiday. Southern states continued to honor their dead on separate days until after World War I.

Memorial Day, as Decoration Day gradually became to be known, originally honored only those lost while fighting in the Civil War. However during World War I, the United States found itself embroiled in another major conflict. The holiday grew to commemorate all American military personnel who died in any war.

For decades, Memorial Day continued to be observed on May 30th, the date General Logan had selected for the first Decoration Day. But in 1968, Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, which established Memorial Day as the last Monday in May, in order to create a three-day weekend for federal employees. This change, that went into effect in 1971, also declared Memorial Day as a federal holiday.

United States Flag Store is here to answer all your questions. Feel free to give us a toll free call at 1-877-734-2458 or email us at support@onlinestores.com.

Annin Flags – Proudly Making Our Country’s Symbol Since 1847

~ Online Stores ~ Leave a comment

Annin Flagmakers, known as the premier flag manufacturer in the United States, have been making Old Glory since 1847. Annin is a 6th generation family owned and operated company headquartered in New Jersey (since 1988) and with factories in Ohio and 2 factories in Virginia.  All of Annin’s American, state, Armed Forces, international, religious flags, and all of their patriotic decorations are make in the United States, with materials that are domestic in origin.

With such a long history, Annin has learned quite a bit in making flags from the creation of long lasting fabrics and inks, to the dense embroidery of the rich star fields. Today, Annin Flagmakers applies the best of 21st century technology in their domestic factories:

– U.S. flags are manufactured with advanced stand-up sewing production techniques.

– Their state, international, and custom flags are digitally printed and screen-dyed to exact color specifications.

– Together with their art department, Annin constantly monitors dye formulas through in-house research and testing laboratories.

– Annin’s distribution systems are in real-time compliance with customer requirements.

Annin’s flags have participated in some rather important world events (among others):

  • The inauguration of Abraham Lincoln, as well as the flag that draped his casket
  • The arrival of Commander Robert E. Peary at the North Pole in 1909 and Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd at the South Pole 21 years later
  • Raising the flag by U.S. Marines atop Mt. Suribachi on Iwo Jima in 1945
  • America’s 1976 Bicentennial celebration

United States Flag Store is proud to offer Annin’s American flags in an assortment of sizes, plus pleated fans and pulldowns.

United States Flag Store is here to answer all your questions.  Feel free to give us a toll free call at 1-877-734-2458 or email us at support@onlinestores.com.