Although some calendars list the federal holiday in February as Presidents’ Day, others continue to designate it as Washington’s Birthday.

Beginning in the 1880s, the holiday honored our first president, General George Washington, and it was held on his birthday, Feb. 22. Congress in 1968 passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Bill, which moved a number of federal holidays including Washington’s, which is now celebrated on the third Monday in February. There was an effort to rename this holiday Presidents’ Day to honor all presidents but this proposal failed in committee and the bill was voted on and signed into law on June 28, 1968, keeping the name as George Washington’s Birthday.

George Washington was born Feb. 22, 1732 at Popes Creek, Virginia, not so far from Mount Vernon. He was not given a middle name. As a very young man he worked as a surveyor, but he became Commander of the Continental Army, president of the Constitutional Convention, the first Amer...