Find Out What Is Open And Closed In Tewksbury And MA On Labor Day

TEWKSBURY, MA — Summer is over, at least unofficially. The fall equinox isn't until Sept. 22, and it's still pretty hot out, but Labor Day signals the start of the new school year and the end of summer leisure.

As state residents head out on final summer vacations and host barbecues, it's important to know what will be open and closed in Tewksbury and throughout Massachusetts on Labor Day.

In Tewksbury, in observance of Labor Day, the town offices will close at 1:30 p.m. on Friday and will open up again at 7:30 a.m. Tuesday.

Tewksbury Public Library will close at 3 p.m. Friday and remain closed through Monday in recognition of Labor Day. The library will reopen at 10 a.m. Tuesday.

Trash and recycling collection, which normally takes place on Wednesday, is rescheduled for Thursday due to the Monday holiday.

Here is a list of places that traditionally are open, and ones traditionally closed, in Massachusetts on Labor Day:

• Retail stores: Typically open
• Liquor stores: Allowed to open in Massachusetts
• 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
• MBTA: Subways and buses on Sunday schedule; commuter rail on weekend schedule
• Orange Line: Still closed!

A quick history of Labor Day

The first Labor Day holiday was celebrated in 1882, with a parade in New York City, but the question of who first proposed the idea of a holiday to honor workers is in dispute more than a century later.

Congress didn't recognize the holiday until what History.com calls a "watershed moment" in American labor history: the 1894 Pullman Palace Car Company strike in Chicago. The strike led to sending federal troops into the city to quell rioters. Just days later, President Grover Cleveland signed a law making Labor Day, the first Monday of September, a national holiday.