Many of the approximately 14,000 state employees who work in Jefferson City have today off, to observe President Abraham Lincoln’s birthday.
Lincoln’s birthday is a Missouri state and county holiday, but not a federal one. Banks and financial institutions are open today, and the U.S. Postal Service is providing regular mail delivery. Most state offices are closed today, except for emergency services like the Missouri State Highway Patrol, state prisons and Fulton State Hospital. The state veterans home in mid-Missouri’s Mexico is also open and staffed today. County sheriff’s departments are also open today.
While most state offices are closed today, the Missouri House and Senate will both be in session this afternoon in Jefferson City.
President Lincoln, the nation’s 16th president, issued the Emancipation Proclamation that essentially declared forever-free those slaves within the Confederacy in 1863.
