The history of Thanksgiving as an American holiday dates back to 1621, when the Pilgrims gathered with Native Americans to celebrate a successful fall harvest, according to history.com.
The tradition of celebrating a harvest, the end of a drought or victory in a battle continued in the New World without a designated day until 1789, when President George Washington proclaimed Thursday, Nov. 26 to be a "day of public thanksgiving and prayer" to recognize the forming of a new nation and constitution, according to the website.
President Abraham Lincoln in 1863 proclaimed the last Thursday of November to be "a day of thanksgiving and praise," thus establishing Thanksgiving as an annual national holiday with a specific day, according to the website.
Lincoln's declaration stood until 1939, when upon the urging of store owners, President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved Thanksgiving Day to the second-to-last Thursday in November. The retail community felt that since most people did their holiday shopping after Thanksgiving, having an extra week each year to purchase gifts would improve commerce, according to the website.
We asked some of Downtown's newsmakers what they are thankful for this year and here's what they said:
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