Originally established in 1885, after President George Washington's birthday, which is still viewed as "Washington's Birthday" by federal law, Presidents Day is celebrated on the third Monday of February to honor past and present American presidents, according to About.com.
The story of Presidents Day essentially dates back to 1800 following President George Washington's death in 1799.
While Washington's birthday was viewed as the unofficial observance for most of the 1800s, it wasn't until 1870s when it became a federal holiday, according to About.com.
Washington's birthday on February 22 became a continuing day of his remembrance, according to About.com.
During that time, Washington was cherished as one of the most important figures in American history, About.com states.
Senator Steven Wallace Dorsey of Arkansas was the first to propose the idea of making it a federal holiday, but it was only signed into law by President Rutherford B. Hayes in 1879, according to About.com.
In the beginning, the holiday only pertained to the District of Columbia, but in 1885 it was branched out to the whole country, making it the first individual American life to be celebrated, About.com reported.
The shift of Washington's Birthday to Presidents Day began in the late 1960s when Congress introduced the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, according to About.com.
Finally in 1971, the act was put into place as an attempt to create more three-day weekends since Presidents Day never actually fell on any presidents birthday's.
In 1999, bills were introduced in both the U.S. House (HR-1363) and Senate (S-978) to specify that the legal public holiday once referred to as Washington's Birthday be "officially" called by that name once again, but both bills died in committees.
