Public offices close Monday for Memorial Day

All federal, state, and local offices will be closed on Monday, May 27, for Memorial Day. The local ones include Orange County Courthouse and other county offices. Also, city offices for Bridge City, Orange, Pinehurst, Pine Forest, Rose City, Vidor, and West Orange.

All emergency responder offices like police and fire will be open.

Bridge City, Orange, and Vidor will have regular garbage pickup on Monday. Pinehurst and West Orange do not have regular pickups scheduled on Mondays.

Memorial Day is now celebrated on the last Monday of every May. The traditional U.S. holiday has its roots in the early days after the Civil War, which ended in 1865. It was first held as Decoration Day, a day to go to cemeteries to decorate the graves of the military who died in the four-year war.

The holiday was changed to Memorial Day after World War I, which ended in 1918, to include all men and women who died while serving in the military.

The 1968 Uniform Holiday Act of 1971 moved all national holidays, except for Christmas, the Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, and New Year's, to a Monday. The act took effect in 1971, when Memorial Day was moved from May 30 to the last Monday, creating a whole Memorial Day Weekend.