A union of workers.  That idea started what we now celebrate as Labor Day.  Did you ever wonder why Labor Day falls on the first Monday in September?  Evidently, the timing was chosen to give laborers a holiday in between July 4th and Thanksgiving.

Labor Day came about because of the Industrial Revolution.  As you know, the Industrial Revolution spawned the creation of dark, dank factories where workers labored long days in poor conditions for extremely low wages.  Sometimes, it required the wages of an entire family just to put food on the table.

Then, the concept of forming a union of workers to battle for better conditions was born.  To celebrate the success of the idea, the first Labor Day was celebrated in New York City in 1882.  In 1894, Labor Day was declared an official federal holiday, and we’ve been celebrating it ever since.

All this information is news to me.  I was going to write a Labor Day post, and realized that I really had no idea how the holiday started in the first place.  I’m sure I learned about it in school, but can’t say that I retained the information!  Now you’ve had your history lesson for the day, too.

Well, except for this last piece of union nostalgia.  In July 1975, Jimmy Hoffa disappeared from a restaurant parking lot around the Detroit area where I grew up.   It was a great restaurant, but I must admit that I looked at the clientele a bit more carefully when I ate there after his disappearance.  It is a bit unsettling to think you may be sharing a dining room with someone who makes people disappear!

I wish you all an enjoyable Labor Day.  Take some time off from your real estate marketing efforts and have some fun!