This holiday was first known as Decoration Day because it was a time set aside to decorate the graves and honor those that died in the Civil War. Although many cities claim to be the birthplace of Memorial Day, President Lyndon Johnson declared ..:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Waterloo, NY the official birthplace. Waterloo started celebrating Memorial Day on May 5, 1866. It was a community-wide event during which businesses closed and residents decorated the graves of soldiers with flowers and flags. But it wasn't until 1971 that Congress declared Memorial Day a national holiday to be celebrated the last Monday in May.

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