What's open and closed on Columbus Day? Is Columbus Day a federal holiday?

This year’s celebration of Columbus Day falls on Monday, Oct. 13.

Columbus Day is a holiday for both federal and New Jersey government workers, marked with the closings of offices deemed nonessential. In the private sector most businesses remain open.

Closings include the Federal Reserve System, which reopens the following day. Banks themselves may be open, but possibly with some service limitations.

More: Sherrill has more cash than Ciattarelli as NJ governor race hits final stretch

Chase Bank, for example, has its sites open Oct. 13, but it treats the day as a holiday when it comes to online transactions.

On the other hand, institutions such as Century Bank Savings, Bay Atlantic Federal Credit Union and Navy Federal Credit Union all close on Columbus Day.

The United States Postal Service is not to deliver regular mail on Monday, but it is to deliver Priority Mail Express items. Self-service kiosks are to remain in operation at the USPS sites that have them.

What’s open on Columbus Day?

Generally, Columbus Day is a day off for municipal, county and state government officials and workers, as well as schools. New Jersey courts are to be closed.

Gloucester County government is an exception to the rule. It’s to remain open on the holiday.

Burlington County offices are to be closed, while the Clerk’s Office’s Corner Store should be open.

Camden County government is also to be off for the day.

Cumberland County nonessential government offices are to be closed, including the library and County Store.

In New Jersey, public school officials decide independently whether to close on Columbus Day, but most should be closed, with the day included on their official calendars.

The City of Vineland in Cumberland County and the Italian Cultural Foundation of South Jersey are to host the annual Italian Flag Raising Ceremony and Luncheon on Oct. 13 on the steps of City Hall at 11 a.m.

More: Courier-Post celebrates 150th anniversary. What you may not know about its history

White House honors Christopher Columbus

The White House Office of Communications issued a statement Oct. 9 from U.S. President Donald Trump, who called Columbus “the original American hero, a giant of Western civilization, and one of the most gallant and visionary men to ever walk the face of the earth.”

Still, there are other historical figures with recognized claims on having discovered America.

A joint congressional resolution in 1962 authorized an annual presidential declaration of Leif Erikson Day, designated as every Oct. 9. Erikson was a Norse explorer credited with finding the continent hundreds of years before Columbus discovered it.

Who was Christopher Columbus?

Various biographies of Columbus state that his birthplace was in Genoa, then an independent country in what now is Italy, and that he was born in 1451.

Columbus took to the sea as a teenager and became an experienced sailor and navigator. The feat for which he is best remembered took place while in service to Spain.

In 1492, Columbus commanded a task force of three ships that sailed across the Atlantic Ocean in search of a new route to Asia.

Instead, the ships reached an island in what today is the Bahamas. He made three more roundtrips between his first journey and 1504.

Columbus died in 1506 in Spain, never having reached Asia. But his trips led to Spain sponsoring more expeditions and the eventual colonization of the “New World.”

What is Columbus Day?

Columbus Day became a national holiday as part of federal legislation signed in 1968 and that took effect in 1971.

Still, the roots of Columbus Day go back to the earliest years of the republic. The Italian-American community always has embraced the explorer as one of its own, but broader recognition came slowly.

On Oct. 12, 1792, less than a year after the Bill of Rights took effect, the Columbian Order of New York held an event to remember the 300^th anniversary of Columbus’s landing.

The first national declaration of a Columbus Day holiday came in 1892 in tragic circumstances.

President Benjamin Harrison designated a one-time celebration, doing so in the aftermath of a New Orleans mob shooting and hanging 11 Italian immigrants. It is recorded as the largest lynching in United States history, and it led to Italy ending diplomatic relations for a time.

Lobbying for a national holiday continued in the 1900s, gaining strength slowly. A joint congressional resolution was approved in April 1934 asking the president to proclaim Oct. 12 of each year as Columbus.

In 1966, a New York man founded the National Columbus Day Committee and lobbying increased.

President Lyndon Johnson in September 1966 cited the congressional resolution from 1934 in proclaiming Wednesday, Oct. 12, 1966 as Columbus Day.

The proclamation reads, in part: “The breadth of his imagination, the force of his determination, and the magnitude of his achievement have not dimmed with the passing of time. We are all spiritual heirs of Christopher Columbus. His unbounded faith and courage are a part of the patrimony of every American.”

In 1968, members of Congress passed, and Johnson signed, the Uniform Holiday Bill. It established Columbus Day as an official national holiday to be observed on the second Monday of October.

Thirty-four states had already established Columbus Day celebrations at the time.

Joe Smith is a N.E. Philly native transplanted to South Jersey 36 years ago, keeping an eye now on government in South Jersey. He is a former editor and current senior staff writer for The Daily Journal in Vineland, Courier-Post in Cherry Hill, and the Burlington County Times.

Have a tip? Support local journalism with a subscription.

This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: Most government offices closed for Columbus Day