National Newspaper Carrier Day

National Newspaper Carrier Day was created to honor the efforts of the first newsboy hired in the United States by the Museum of the City of New York. It was in 1833 that 10-year-old Blarney Flaherty first picked up his load of papers, answering an advertisement for The Sun that specified that “steady men” could apply. Benjamin Day decided that Flaherty fit the bill, and it was soon after that his cries of “Paper! Get your paper, here!” were first heard calling out across the streets of the Big Apple. 180 years later National Newspaper Carrier Day celebrates those intrepid souls who followed in his footsteps.

It’s amazing to think about all of the people who were uplifted by this career as young boys, and the newest generation of newspaper carriers is no exception. The likes of James Cagney, Albert Einstein, even Isaac Asimov and Martin Luther King Jr had their start early in their lives carrying the local paper. It still serves as one of the first jobs young men and women will hold in many local communities, using their bikes to carry out paper routes to deliver the news to people all over their neighborhood.