Mother’s Day Historical Marker

In 1908, 15,000 people turned out at Philadelphia City Hall to mark the first Mother’s Day. Anna Jarvis (1864-1948), a devout Methodist, had launched a national campaign with the help of retail magnate John Wannamaker to fulfill her mother’s dream of a national day honoring mothers. The following year, Mother’s Day was observed in 46 states. By 1914, Congress had passed a resolution and President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation making Mother’s Day an official national flag holiday. Jarvis had envisioned a civil religious event for mothers and to her dying days, publicly opposed the commercialization of Mother’s Day.