Have you ever wondered when the first Memorial Day, first known as Decoration Day, took place?

One claim is from Arlington Heights, Virginia, when ladies started to decorate Civil War soldiers’ graves in 1862. Ladies from several other Southern states had the same idea of setting aside a grave-decorating day during the war. Not to be outdone, the first official celebration of what is now known as Memorial Day was celebrated after the war, on May 5, 1866, in Waterloo, New York. 

Many locations staked a claim in the who-started-it tiff, but President Lyndon Johnson settled the matter in 1966 by declaring — right or wrong — that Waterloo, New York, is the birthplace of Memorial Day. Why? Probably because New York was the first state to officially recognize the holiday, in 1873.