President Joe Biden is creating a new national monument in Maine to honor the legacy of a crusader for workers’ rights and the nation’s first female Cabinet secretary.
That is the culmination of a campaign to win that designation for Frances Perkins’ family homestead in Newcastle. Biden on Monday will officially sign a proclamation declaring the property the Frances Perkins National Monument during a ceremony at the U.S. Department of Labor’s Frances Perkins Building in Washington.
“Honoring Frances Perkins with a national monument does more than acknowledge her work to establish Social Security, unemployment insurance, minimum wage and overtime pay, it is a challenge for us,” acting Labor Secretary Julie Su said in a statement. “We must all remember that the gains we enjoy today were not gifts, they were hard-fought victories because Frances Perkins dared to believe that workers should thrive and not just survive.”
The property includes a brick house and barns on 57 acres along the Damariscotta River. This designation will turn over management of the property to the National Park Service.
Keith Mestrich, chair of the board for the Frances Perkins Center and long-time labor advocate, credited Perkins with shaping the American workplace.
“And the Frances Perkins Homestead makes it possible to see and touch history, with significant artifacts from Perkins’ life and times. Under the management of the National Park Service, the homestead will introduce Perkins legacy to more people and inspire new generations of leaders who can put their values to work for others,” Mestrich said in a statement.
Tomlin Perkins Coggeshall, Perkins’ grandson, said she “made the world a better place,” adding that her work was guided by values she learned in Newcastle.
“While she is a figure of incredible historical importance, to me she was my grandmother and I treasured the time that we had together. I’m so proud that she is being honored by President Biden and her contribution is being recognized with a national monument,” Coggeshall said in a statement.
Perkins was the country’s first female Cabinet secretary. She served as labor secretary under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and Perkins played a critical role in reshaping labor law in the United States, particularly banning child labor, creating Social Security, unemployment insurance and a minimum wage, and instituting a 40-hour workweek.
Before ascending to the national stage, Perkins was an advocate for workers’ rights and served on the commission that investigated the deadly 1911 fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist factory in New York City, which claimed the lives of 146 workers, many of whom were young women and some of whom jumped several floors to their deaths to escape the flames.
The building had only one fire escape, which collapsed during efforts to rescue the workers, and managers had locked the doors inside to prevent theft but also prevented workers from escaping.
Over the summer, the nonprofit that manages the property, Frances Perkins Center, collected signatures for a petition urging Biden to use his authority under the Antiquities Act of 1906 to declare the homestead a national monument. The property was designated a National Historic Landmark on Aug. 25, 2014.
The campaign had support from various Maine politicians, including Democratic U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, independent U.S. Sen. Angus King and state Sen. Peggy Rotundo, D-Lewiston, who sits on the center’s board.
“The Frances Perkins Homestead National Monument ensures that the legacy of a truly remarkable Maine leader is preserved for generations to come,” King and Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican, said in a joint statement on Monday afternoon. “A trailblazer in public service, Frances Perkins’ intelligence and abiding commitment to her work transformed the lives of millions of Americans. From shaping Social Security to championing labor protections, her work continues to govern workplaces today and has bettered American lives for decades. Surrounded by the natural beauty of 57 acres in Newcastle, her ancestral homestead will now serve as a monument to her impressive legacy of service to our country.”
Democratic Gov. Janet Mills called the monument designation “a tremendous tribute” that reflects Maine’s “special place” in Perkins’ life.
“With this historic designation, the life and legacy [of] one of Maine’s most accomplished public servants and one of our nation’s strongest champions for working people will be forever preserved for the benefit of all future generations,” Mills said Monday.