The Mother of Father’s Day

The Dodd House in Spokane, Wash., on April 13, 2022. Ilene Eng/NTD Television

SPOKANE, Wash.— The city of Spokane in Washington state is the birthplace of Father’s Day. It started in the craftsman-style home known as the “Father’s Day House,” or the Dodd House.

In 1909, a Spokane resident named Sonora Louise Smart Dodd was inspired to dedicate a day to fathers while listening to a Mother’s Day sermon at a church.

Her father, William Smart, was a Civil War veteran who raised Dodd and her five younger brothers after her mother died during childbirth.

A sign stating that the Dodd House was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2010. Ilene Eng/NTD Television

“The idea, I think, of having a single father in those years with six small children ... it was really important to her that he be recognized for all that he did,” Kirstin Davis, communications manager for the City of Spokane, told NTD Television.

A plaque in front of the house honoring Dodd reads: “‘He felt fatherhood was a lifelong task,’ Sonora Smart Dodd said, ‘and he never relinquished its duties and responsibilities until his death in 1919. Even after my brothers and I were married, he was mindful of his obligations for he was a golden rule type of father.’”

A plaque honors Sonora Louise Smart Dodd in front of the Dodd House in Spokane, Wash., on April 13, 2022. Ilene Eng/NTD Television

Dodd started a petition to create a day honoring fathers and, with the help of the Spokane Ministerial Alliance and the local YMCA, the Spokane mayor and the Washington governor signed proclamations to celebrate the first Father’s Day in June 1910.

After that, Dodd advocated for 60 years for Father’s Day to become a national holiday.

“She decided to make it a very promotional effort and partnered with businesses that would benefit from selling men’s items,” Davis said, “whether those are ties, or greeting cards, whisky—things that dads might appreciate.”

In 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson declared the third Sunday in June to be Father’s Day. President Richard Nixon made the holiday permanent in 1972.

Dodd became known as the “Mother of Father’s Day.”

A close-up of the plaque honoring Sonora Louise Smart Dodd in front of the Dodd House in Spokane, Wash., on April 13, 2022. Ilene Eng/NTD Television

On the 100th anniversary of Father’s Day, the National Register of Historic Places added the Dodd House to its list.

Now, Spokane celebrates Father’s Day just like everywhere else.

Davis’s birthday also falls in the third week of June. Before her father passed away, she used to celebrate it along with Father’s Day.

“[Father’s Day is] just honoring that relationship,” Davis said. “Usually there’s some really good food involved, and hopefully we get a nice day, and we can be outside and enjoy each other’s company.”