A crowd of revelers celebrated Independence Day with fireworks, food and fun at the Ramona July 4th Family Picnic & Fireworks Show. A group of seventh-graders from Olive Peirce Middle School were mostly anticipating spending time with their friends at the start of the event held at the back of their campus.

The first-ever Independence Day took place in 1776—yet there are several homes across the U.S. that pre-date that historic time.

Known now as a day of patriotism and enjoying time off from work, the Fourth of July began the journey to becoming a quintessential American holiday in 1776, when the Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence.