Holiday Hours: Labor Day

Boston-born Labor Secretary Frances Perkins was the first woman to hold a Cabinet position and the architect of Social Security.

Labor Day is being celebrated Monday, Sept. 4. Labor Day was established as a federal holiday in 1971 by Congress and is held on the first Monday of September. Read a history of Labor Day here.

The first Labor Day holiday was celebrated on Tuesday, Sept. 5, 1882, in New York City, in accordance with the plans of the Central Labor Union. The union encouraged the development of a workingman's holiday and a number of states began setting a day aside. Parades and picnics or similar events were not uncommon in its early days; it is now seen as part of the last three-day weekend of the summer prior to the start of school in many localities. 

Massachusetts was among the first states to recognize Labor Day and the first to institute a minimum wage on June 4, 1912.

The fourth U.S secretary of labor, and the first woman to hold a Cabinet position, Frances Perkins, was born in Boston in 1880. Perkins, who attended Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, is considered the architect of the Social Security Act. The headquarters of the Department of Labor is named after her.

Closed:
Federal, state and local offices; no mail delivery.
Banks; Wall Street
Public colleges and schools, most private schools
Public libraries
Most offices and businesses
BRTA is not running
No trash pickup in Pittsfield; one-day delay

MassDOT update:
Heaviest Labor Day traffic on the Massachusetts Turnpike (I-90) is expected on Thursday and Friday westbound and Monday afternoon and evening eastbound. Motorists are advised to drive in off-peak hours if possible, utilize available technology tools for trips including www.mass511.com, consider public transportation if possible to reach destinations and bring a face-covering as some municipalities have a mask mandate for indoor venues.

"We encourage members of the public to use MassDOT's resources before planning travel for the Labor Day Weekend," said Highway Administrator Jonathan Gulliver. "By planning ahead, you can select the best travel times, avoid congestion, and have a safer and more efficient trip."     

Sign up at the 511 Traveler Information Service to receive personalized travel information alerts via email, text or telephone. MassDOT as always reminds drivers to avoid using cell phones while driving. Call into the 511 service before departing.   

North Adams Hopes to Transform Y Into Community Recreation Center

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
05:19AM / Thursday, May 02, 2024

Mayor Jennifer Macksey updates members of the former YMCA on the status of the roof project and plans for reopening. 

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The city has plans to keep the former YMCA as a community center.

 

"The city of North Adams is very committed to having a recreation center not only for our youth but our young at heart," Mayor Jennifer Macksey said to the applause of some 50 or more YMCA members on Wednesday. "So we are really working hard and making sure we can have all those touch points."

 

The fate of the facility attached to Brayton School has been in limbo since the closure of the pool last year because of structural issues and the departure of the Berkshire Family YMCA in March.

 

The mayor said the city will run some programming over the summer until an operator can be found to take over the facility. It will also need a new name. 

 

"The YMCA, as you know, has departed from our facilities and will not return to our facility in the form that we had," she said to the crowd in Council Chambers. "And that's been mostly a decision on their part. The city of North Adams wanted to really keep our relationship with the Y, certainly, but they wanted to be a Y without borders, and we're going a different direction."

 

The pool was closed in March 2023 after the roof failed a structural inspection. Kyle Lamb, owner of Geary Builders, the contractor on the roof project, said the condition of the laminated beams was far worse than expected. 

 

"When we first went into the Y to do an inspection, we certainly found a lot more than we anticipated. The beams were actually rotted themselves on the bottom where they have to sit on the walls structurally," he said. "The beams actually, from the weight of snow and other things, actually crushed themselves eight to 11 inches. They were actually falling apart. ...