Labor Day affair, which occurred in Chicago on May 4, 1886.) Lastly, several countries have chosen neither date for their Labour Day. Beginning in the late 19th century, as the trade union and labor movements grew, different groups of trade unionists chose a variety of days on which to celebrate labor. In the United States, a September holiday called Labor Day was first proposed in the early 1880s. Alternate stories of the event's origination exist. According to one early history of Labor Day, the event originated in connection with a General Assembly of the Knights of Labor convened in New York City
Labor Day such a public celebration, owing to optimum weather and the date's place on the calendar, sitting midway between the Fourth of July and Thanksgiving public holidays. Labor Day picnics and other public gatherings frequently featured speeches by prominent labor leaders. In 1909 the American Federation of Labor convention designated the Sunday preceding Labor Day as "Labor Sunday", to be dedicated to the spiritual and educational aspects of the labor movement. This secondary date failed to gain significant traction in popular culture. In 1887 Oregon became the first state of the United States to make Labor Day an official public holiday.