The first observance of Father's Day is believed to have been held in July 5 1908 a church in Fairmont, West Virginia, by Dr. Robert Webb of West Virginia at the Central United Methodist Church of Fairmont.

Mrs. John B. Dodd of Washington thought independently of the holiday one Sunday in 1909 while listening to a Mother's Day sermon in church, and she arranged a tribute for her father in June 19, 1910. She was the first to solicit the idea of having an official Father's Day observance.

In the 1860s, companies like Marcus Ward & Co, Goodall and Charles Bennett (neither of them American companies) began the mass production of greeting cards. Hallmark (known as Hall Brothers) was founded in 1910 and sold only Christmas and Valentines cards. These were already being mass produced in England by Marcus Ward, etc.

I don't like the greeting card companies and they way they capitalise on any and every thing they can. But why bash American companies for being enterprising when the English were doing it first?