Christmas was declared a U.S. federal (national) holiday on June 28, 1870, when President Ulysses S. Grant signed it into law.

Key date and context

  • The act of Congress in 1870 formally recognized December 25 as a legal holiday for federal employees in Washington, D.C.
  • This law placed Christmas alongside New Year’s Day, Independence Day, and Thanksgiving as among the first federal holidays in the United States.

Why this date matters

  • June 28, 1870 is widely cited as the official date Christmas became a federal holiday, marking its shift from primarily religious observance to a civic, nationally recognized celebration.
  • Although early coverage focused on federal workers in D.C., the designation helped standardize Christmas as a public holiday across states in the years that followed.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.