Father's Day was created by a daughter -- not Hallmark, as many cynics may believe.

 According to Holidays.net, the idea of Father’s Day was proposed by Mrs. Sonora Smart Dodd in 1909 as a way to honor her father, William Smart. Smart, a Civil War veteran, was widowed when his wife (and Sonora’s mother) died in childbirth with their sixth child. He was left to raise the newborn and his other five children alone on a rural farm in eastern Washington State. After Sonora grew up, she realized the strength and selflessness her father had shown in raising his children as a single parent.

 

The first Father's Day was observed on June 19, 1910, in Spokane, Washington. However, it wasn’t until 1966 that the third Sunday of June was marked as Father's Day, when President Lyndon Johnson signed a presidential proclamation.