On August 8th, the U.S. will celebrate the anniversary of the National Dollar Day. This holiday commemorates the day Congress established the U.S. monetary system in 1786. In 1862, the United States printed its first dollar bill. But it wasn’t George Washington. The first dollar bill featured Salmon P. Chase, President Lincoln’s Secretary of Treasury. The $1 is the oldest design in America. Its design has not changed in nearly 50 years. The $5, $10, $20, and $50 have all been redesigned in recent years, but the single remains unchanged. Counterfeiting is a problem, but the $1 doesn’t need redesigning because it isn’t as significant as the larger bills. It’s on the right of the number 1, on the front of the bill, above the horizontal line. It’s tiny. It’s a bird. It’s mysterious. No one knows what kind of bird it is. It inspires conspiracy theories about what it is and where it came from.

National Dollar Day is observed every year on August 8.

National Dollar Day was founded in 1786. While we don't know who started it, we do know that the celebration is rooted in the history of the U.S. monetary system.