Juneteenth: Melrose Municipal Buildings CLOSED

Juneteenth, also known as Emancipation Day or Freedom Day, represents the end of slavery in the United States. The City of Melrose will observe Juneteenth on Monday, June 19, and all of the City's municipal buildings - City Hall, Melrose Public Library, the Milano Center, and the City Yard - will be closed, with the exception of the City's public safety buildings (Police and Fire).

Despite Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation taking effect on January 1, 1863, hundreds of thousands of Black people continued to be enslaved in the United States. It was not until Union soldiers delivered the news of the abolition of slavery in Galveston, Texas on June 19, 1865, that the last group of enslaved Black people in the United States were freed. The following year, on June 19, 1866, the first official Juneteenth celebrations took place in Texas.