Which was the first state and what year to declare Christmas a legal holiday in the USA?

In 1836, Alabama is the first state in the USA to declare Christmas a legal holiday

This may or may not be true. The event may have happened in 1883.

"Another interesting newspaper related question came my way just before Christmas. This involves the question of whether Alabama, in 1836, was the first state to establish Christmas as a legal holiday. According to the newspapers the answer could either be "yes" or "no". Well, it has to be one or the other you might be thinking! On Christmas Day in 2000 there were two stories about the question published in a combined edition of The Birmingham News and The Birmingham Post-Herald. The Birmingham News story written by Greg Garrison quotes a history professor at the University of Alabama at Huntsville as saying that the event did occur in 1836. The story in the Birmingham Post-Herald written by Robin Clemow reaches an opposite conclusion. Ms Clemow utilized the services of the Alabama Department of Archives and History, among other sources, in her research. Rickie Brunner at the Archives provided her with February 23, 1883, as the date Alabama passed an act designating Christmas as a state holiday. I may not put this question on the Question Clearinghouse web page, but I did want to mention it since it falls in the same category as the origin of "The Disiderata" and the real story of the text of the environmental speech of Chief Seattle that was in one of the columns several years ago. I would be thrilled if readers of this column were able to find some additional definitive information about this question. By the way, Ms Clemow was only able to trace the origins of "the legend of 1836" back to a 1954 book entitled The American Christmas, A Study in National Culture by James H. Barnett." - Birmingham Public Library

Go Bama!

Thanks guys