On Monday, in observance of Memorial Day, the Illinois REALTORS® offices in Springfield will be closed. The offices will reopen with regular hours on Tuesday.

According to history.com, the origins of Memorial Day can be traced back to the Civil War. On May 30, 1868 the first Decoration Day was observed at Arlington National Cemetery as 5,000 people decorated the graves of 20,000 Union and Confederate soldiers buried there. For decades, it was observed on May 30.

The holiday eventually came to be known as Memorial Day, and by World War I, Americans used the holiday to remember military personnel who died in all wars. In 1968, Congress passed the Uniform Holiday Act, observing Memorial Day on the last Monday of May and creating a three-day weekend for federal employees. The law went into effect in 1971.