Father's Day History

Spring is giving way to summer, and with that, so comes Father’s Day.  Did you know the first observance of Father’s Day was on July 5, 1908 in Fairmont, West Virginia?  It was organized by Mrs. Grace Golden Clayton to celebrate the lives of the 210 fathers who had been lost in the Monongah mining disaster on December 6, 1907.  The beginning of a national celebration of Father’s Day was actually not until June 19, 1910, when Sonora Smart Dodd of Spokane, Washington organized a day of observance for fathers after Mother’s Day was established.  Initially met with criticism and the fear of becoming a joke, Father’s Day was not officially made into a national holiday until 1972, six years after President Lyndon B. Johnson issued the first presidential proclamation honoring fathers on the third Sunday in June.