What’s Open, Closed In Havre de Grace On Presidents Day 2020

HAVRE DE GRACE, MD —Presidents Day will be Monday, and a variety of services will be closed in Havre de Grace for the occasion.

The holiday, which was originally established in 1885 to honor President George Washington, will provide a three-day weekend for many. But it also means that services such as the U.S. Post Office, banks and public schools will not open.

Here’s a breakdown of how the holiday could affect your routine.

• Havre de Grace City Hall: Closed
• Havre de Grace City Council meeting (usually held first and third Mondays): Tuesday, Feb. 18
• Harford County government offices: Closed
• Harford County Public Schools: Closed
• Harford County Public Library: Closed
• Post offices: Closed
• Courts: Closed

Trash pickup:

• Trash pickup will continue as usual.

The transition in the holiday’s name from Washington’s Birthday to Presidents Day began in the late 1960s as part of the Uniform Monday Holiday Act. The bill proposed that the country celebrate holidays on Monday rather than when birthdays fell on the calendar so workers could have a three-day weekend.

During the debate of that bill, it was proposed that Washington’s Birthday be renamed Presidents Day to celebrate the birthdays of both Washington on Feb. 22 and President Abraham Lincoln’s birthday on Feb. 12.

Congress actually rejected the name change in the 1968 version of the bill. However, after the bill went into effect in 1971, Presidents Day became the commonly accepted name.

— By Gus Saltonstall and Elizabeth Janney