Kate Mullany National Historic Site

Before the Committee on Resources
Subcommittee on National Parks, Recreation, & Public Lands
United States House of Representatives

Hearing on Pending Legislation
including
H.R. 305, Kate Mullany National Historic Site Act
10:00 AM – September 14, 2004
1334 Longworth House Office Building

Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member Christensen, and members of the subcommittee, thank you for including HR 305 in this hearing. I appreciate the opportunity to testify before you this morning, and to briefly present to you the story of Kate Mullany and the long effort to gain appropriate recognition for her amazing life, and home, located in Troy, New York.

I am also very grateful to the author of the Mullany House application for national historic landmark status, Ms. Rachel Bliven, who will testify in support of this legislation before the subcommittee later this afternoon. Located at the confluence of the Hudson and Mohawk Rivers, Troy was a prosperous industrial city known around the world for its large iron works and textile factories. Troy was home to the world’s first commercial laundry and had earned the nickname, “The Collar City,” for the many thousands of shirts, detachable shirt collars, and cuffs produced there.

Kate Mullany emigrated to America from Ireland in the mid-nineteenth century. She made her way to Upstate New York and settled in the city of Troy, eventually making her home at 350 Eighth Street.

Like many women of the time, Kate Mullany found work in one of Troy’s shirt factories. On a daily basis, she undertook physically demanding work steaming and pressing collars. Despite earning minimal wages of just 3 to 4 dollars a day, Kate was soon the leading breadwinner in her family.

Kate also quickly became a leader among her peers in the factory – among the women who felt as though they had no choice but to endure 12 to 14 hour workdays in awful conditions while receiving very little pay. These women who had no voice soon found one, and it belonged to Kate Mullany.

In 1864, Kate led over 200 fellow female workers on strike, demanding better wages and improved working conditions – and they won. Kate secured a 25% wage increase – a remarkable figure at the time, particularly for a group of women.

This bargaining success led to the formation of the Collar Laundry Union – the first all-female labor union in the United States – with Kate Mullany in charge.

Kate’s record of individual accomplishment continued as well. In 1868, she was elected a 2nd Vice President of the National Labor Union – becoming the first woman ever to hold a national position in any labor organization.

She became a national figure, and not just in the labor movement. Kate welcomed suffragette Susan B. Anthony to Troy and joined with her in the growing struggle for equal rights for women.

Kate’s death in 1906 was noted in newspapers around the nation, a testament to her amazing story and groundbreaking accomplishments.

In 1991, I introduced HR 1143, legislation authorizing a National Labor Theme Study. HR 1143 was passed and signed into law by the first President Bush. The Labor Theme Study, completed by the National Park Service, identified the Mullany House as meeting the criteria for inclusion in the National Park System. I have introduced the Kate Mullany National Historic Site Act in each of the last four Congresses.

Almost two years ago today, this subcommittee discharged and the full Resources Committee reported my Kate Mullany legislation (HR 464) favorably without amendment by unanimous consent.

A month later, the Mullany bill was one of many bills included as provisions in HR 5569, the Comprehensive Natural Resources Protection Act of 2002, introduced by the chairman and ranking member of the full Resources Committee. The Chairman also amended the bill slightly by including language to designate the Mullany house as a national historic site and as an ‘Affiliated Site,’ which authorized the Park Service to provide technical and financial assistance to the site’s local cooperative partners.

Unfortunately, Congress adjourned before either HR 5569 or the original Mullany bill made it to the House floor. Nevertheless, I was pleased that after six long years, the Mullany bill had been considered and reported favorably by the Resources Committee.

I am very pleased and grateful to be here today to urge the subcommittee to consider and report HR 305, the Kate Mullany National Site Act.

I continue to believe that the site meets the qualifications of national significance, suitability and feasibility for inclusion as a National Historic Site of the National Park System.

But I am also a realist. In the past, the Park Service has testified in opposition to my legislation, and they will do the same today.

I understand the limitations facing both the National Park Service (NPS) and this Subcommittee. I am familiar with the serious maintenance backlog confronting NPS, and the impact of adding new units to the system under such circumstances.

On October 30th, 2003, the National Parks Subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Energy & Natural Resources held a hearing on the companion legislation to my bill, S. 1241, introduced by my friend and colleague, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. As First Lady of the United States, Hillary Clinton came to Troy in 1998 to unveil the National Historic Landmark designation at the Mullany House during her ‘Save America’s Treasures’ tour. I am incredibly grateful to Senator Clinton for her tireless efforts on this legislation, and on behalf of American workers and women throughout the nation.

I am pleased to report that in June of this year the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Amended and Approved Senator Clinton’s bill.

This amended version is quite similar to the amended version of my bill that was included in the 2002 Comprehensive Natural Resources Protection Act.

These versions designate the Mullany House as a National Historic Site and an Affiliated Area of the National Park System – again, authorizing the park service to provide important planning, technical and financial assistance.

The Kate Mullany House is now part of the American Labor Studies Center, a not-for-profit corporation. Plans and funding are in place for the establishment of Kate Mullany Park on the adjacent lot.

The amended versions of my bill respond directly to the concerns expressed by the Park Service about my original legislation. They also have the full support of the American Labor Studies center and the State AFL-CIO, who are more than willing to continue to own, manage, and operate the site on a daily basis and have already sought out and set aside resources to do so. The plan also enjoys broad bipartisan support from our two Senators; our House colleagues, Congressmen Sweeney, Boehlert, Quinn & others; the Majority Leader of New York State Senate, Joe Bruno; the present and past Mayors of the City of Troy; and numerous other local partners.

Mr. Chairman, I have worked for almost a decade to add the Mullany House as a National Historic Site of the National Park Service – and seen little progress.

I support the proposal to designate the site as an affiliated area. This approach, which responds to the concerns of, and relieves the burden placed upon, the park service, has also been approved by the site owner and operator, the sponsor of the companion bill, Senator Clinton, and the entire Senate Energy and Natural Resources committee.

The point of this effort is to recognize a remarkable American and her legacy – as a determined immigrant, a tireless working woman, a pioneer of the American labor movement, and a central figure in the rich industrial history of our country.

The House and Senate Committees have both recognized the great advantages of having the National Park Service, the guardian and protector of our nation’s most treasured sites, involved on this project, and both have approved legislation that designates the Mullany House as a National Historic Site.

Let’s iron out these marginal differences and ensure that the Mullany Home will continue to serve as a resource for students, researchers, and tourists for decades to come.

I respectfully ask you, Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member Christensen, and the members of this subcommittee to join the long effort to bring this project to fruition. Consider HR 305, review the amended Senate version, and move it forward to the full committee and then to the House.

I thank the committee for its consideration.