Portsmouth To Close Town Offices For Presidents Day 2022

PORTSMOUTH, RI — Monday is Presidents Day, a holiday honoring two of the country's most famous presidents.

The holiday was established by Congress decades ago to move the celebration of George Washington’s birthday to the third Monday of February every year. Presidents Day doesn’t officially include Abraham Lincoln’s birthday on Feb. 12, which was celebrated by a handful of states.

The 16th U.S. president was born in 1809 in LaRue County, Kentucky, though his birth state isn’t one of the five — Lincoln’s adopted state of Illinois plus California, Connecticut, Missouri and New York — that observe his birthday as a holiday.

In the public consciousness, though, Lincoln’s birthday is spun in with that of the first U.S. president, George Washington, and is observed on the third Monday in February. This year, that’s on Feb. 21.

Technically, though, the holiday observed on the third Monday of February commemorates Washington’s birth on Feb. 22, 1732.

The Uniform Monday Holiday Act of 1971 doesn’t mention Lincoln’s birthday, or even Presidents Day. Some lawmakers argued during debate that Washington’s birthday should be renamed Presidents Day to include Lincoln, but Congress rejected that.

Before the Uniform Monday Holiday Act of 1971, Washington’s birthday was celebrated on the anniversary of his birth, regardless of the day of the week.

Presidents Day is also the kickoff to school vacation week for Rhode Island students.

Here's a look at what's open and closed in Rhode Island on Monday.

• Retail stores: Open at owner's discretion
• Liquor stores: Open
• Supermarkets: Open
• Convenience stores: Open
• Restaurants, bars: Open
• Banks: Closed
• Libraries: Closed
• Stock market: Closed
• Municipal, state, federal offices: Closed
• Mail: Post offices closed; express delivery only
• RIPTA: Sunday/Holiday schedule

A previous version of this article said the transfer station was closed. Patch regrets the error.