Columbus Day Columbus's landing in the New World on the 400th anniversary of the event. During the anniversary in 1892, teachers, preachers, poets and politicians used rituals to teach ideals of patriotism. These rituals took themes such as citizenship boundaries, the importance of loyalty to the nation, and the celebration of social progress. Many Italian-Americans observe Columbus Day as a celebration of their heritage, and the first such celebration was held in New York City on October 12, 1866. The day was first enshrined as a legal holiday in the United States through the lobbying of Angelo Noce, a first generation Italian,
Columbus, Georgia the Columbus Ladies Memorial Association’s call to observe a day annually to decorate soldiers’ graves inaugurated a movement first in the south and then in the north to honor the soldiers who died during the Civil War. With the expansion of the city, leaders who promoted establishing a university, founded Columbus College, a two-year institution which later was developed as Columbus State University, now a comprehensive center of higher learning. The city government became consolidated with the county in 1971, the first of its kind in Georgia (and one of only 16 in the U.S. at the time). Expanding on