Government offices, banks and the stock exchanges are all closed today, Monday, Feb. 16, in observance of the birthday of our nation’s first president, George Washington.
The post office is closed and there is no mail delivery today.
There is municipal trash pickup today in Riverhead’s municipal garbage districts.
The LIRR is running on a holiday schedule today, which means there is no service on the main line east of Ronkonkoma.
Suffolk Transit buses are running on a regular weekday schedule on the S92, S62, S90 and S66 lines, but on a Saturday schedule on the 8A, S58 lines.
Riverhead schools are closed today. Today is also the first day of winter recess; schools are closed all week. There are no day or evening classes at Suffolk County Community College today. Riverhead Free Library is open today.
If you’re traveling to NYC, subways and buses are operating on a Saturday schedule. Alternate side of the street parking is suspended today, but metered parking is in effect.
Today is the official observance of Washington’s birthday. “Presidents’ Day” is not a federal designation, but its use became common as a result of advertising campaigns that began using the term in the 1980s.
The birthday of Abraham Lincoln (Feb. 12) was never made a federal holiday, though it is observed by some states, including New York.
Though Washington was born on Feb. 22, the observance of Washington’s birthday as a federal holiday was shifted to the third Monday in February by the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, which took effect in 1971.
Some proponents of the Uniform Monday Holiday Act wanted to rename Washington’s Birthday as “Presidents Day,” to celebrate the birth of both Washington and Lincoln, but the bill passed by the 90th Congress in 1968 kept the name Washington’s Birthday for the holiday we celebrate today, the third Monday in February.
Washington’s life
Washington was born in Colonial Virginia on Feb. 22, 1732 (Feb. 11, 1731 under the old style calendar in use until 1750 in England and its colonies) the son of a wealthy tobacco plantation owner. He became a surveyor and soldier and rose to the rank of a senior officer in the colonial army during the French and Indian War. In 1775, Washington was appointed by the Second Continental Congress to lead the Continental Army as commander-in-chief in the American Revolution, from 1775 to 1783. After the American victory, Washington presided over the writing of the Constitution in 1787 and became the first president by unanimous choice of the Electoral College in 1789.
Washington defined the office of the presidency and oversaw the establishment of a strong national government. Many of the customs he put into place as president — using a cabinet system, delivering an inaugural address — are followed to this day. His refusal to run for a third term of office was a custom followed by all his successors until Franklin Roosevelt ran and was elected to a third term in 1940.
Washington is known as the “father of our country” because of his central role in its birth, in establishing its structure of governance and in shaping the office of the chief executive.
DID YOU KNOW: George Washington wrote a beer recipe; plus other odd facts about him: http://t.co/E2krcvXYKH pic.twitter.com/SkbHmP6Ych
— WPTV (@WPTV) February 9, 2015
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