Birthplace of Memorial Day

The seeds of Memorial Day were planted in 1865 when Waterloo, New York pharmacist Henry Welles joined the jubilant crowds at welcome-home parades for Civil War soldiers.

The seeds took root on May 5, 1866 as the woolen mills along the canal shut down for the day. Banks and grocery stores did too.

Scores of villagers marched in mourning. Some visited all three cemeteries to decorate each veteran's grave with a floral cross.

More than two dozen communities around the United States, from Boalsburg, Pa., to Macon, Ga., and Carbondale, Ill., to Richmond, Va., claim to be the birthplace of Memorial Day. Yet the official distinction, signed into law by President Johnson in 1966, is held by Waterloo, NY.

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