While the holiday is sometimes misunderstood as a celebration of the lives and birthdays of all U.S. presidents, the holiday was originally called Washington’s Birthday and celebrates the birthdays of former presidents George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, according to the National Archives. It was also the first federal holiday to honor an individual’s birth date.

Washington’s birthday, Feb. 22, was designated by Congress as a holiday for all federal workers in 1885, and in 1971, the Uniform Monday Holiday Law changed the date to the third Monday in February, according to the National Archives. It adds that the position of the holiday between the birthdays of Washington and Lincoln, whose birthday is Feb. 12, gave rise to the popular name of Presidents Day.

The U.S. Postal Service, banks and stock markets will also be closed on Feb. 17, however most restaurants, grocery stores and retail stores will remain open.

2025 federal holiday schedule

According to the Office of Personnel Management, here are the dates for all remaining federal holidays in 2025: