Township Council Meeting Moved, Schools Closed for Columbus Day

Manchester's Township Council will not have its first regular meeting of the month at its usual time on Monday, as this session has been scheduled a day later due to the Columbus Day holiday.

The council will meet on Tuesday, Oct. 11, at 6 p.m. in the courthouse of the on Colonial Drive. The agenda shows that the township, which operates on a fiscal year calendar running from July through June, will introduce the 2012 municipal budget.

Other agenda items include approving new bus stops proposed by Academy Bus and authorizing a Green Acres grant. 

on the second and fourth Monday of each month, unless otherwise noted. 

In addition to state, county and local government offices, Manchester and Lakehurst schools are also closed to students for the holiday and will reopen on Tuesday. The post office is also closed, meaning no mail will be delivered today.

All branches of the Ocean County Library remain open on Columbus Day, according to a statement.

The U.S. first commemorated Christopher Columbus' landing in the New World in 1492 – history tells us it was on Oct. 12 – with a federal holiday in 1937. In the early '70s, the observance was moved to the second Monday in October.

But Americans have been celebrating Columbus' accidental discovery almost since the U.S. was founded. Patriotic rituals marked both the 300th and 400th anniversary of Colubus' arrival, in 1792 and 1892. In areas populated by large numbers of Italian immigrants, the holiday has become a chance to celebrate Catholic and Italian culture in the U.S.

Some states use the day to recognize Native American history instead, in part because many take issue with celebrating Columbus and his bloody history on the continent.