H.R. 5069

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5069 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 5069

To designate the Peter J. McGuire Memorial and Peter J. McGuire 
Gravesite located in Pennsauken, New Jersey, as a National Historic 
Landmark, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

August 29, 2025

Mr. Norcross (for himself, Mr. Pocan, Ms. Sherrill, Mr. Deluzio, and 
Ms. Hoyle of Oregon) introduced the following bill; which was referred 
to the Committee on Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

A BILL

To designate the Peter J. McGuire Memorial and Peter J. McGuire 
Gravesite located in Pennsauken, New Jersey, as a National Historic 
Landmark, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ``Peter J. McGuire Labor Day Landmark 
Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

Congress finds the following:
(1) Peter J. McGuire joined the Cabinet Makers Union of New 
York in 1872 and, recognizing the need for one international 
union of wood workers, called for and led a convention of 
carpenters and joiners in Chicago in 1881 that formed the 
Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners which became the United 
Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America in 1888.
(2) The Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners elected 
McGuire as its first general secretary and retained him in that 
position for 20 years.
(3) McGuire was a leader in convincing skeptical, locally 
minded union activists around the United States that a national 
labor federation was not only necessary, but also possible.
(4) McGuire co-founded with Samuel Gompers the Federation 
of Organized Trades and Labor Unions and, in 1886, reorganized 
it into the American Federation of Labor.
(5) McGuire served variously as the American Federation of 
Labor secretary and vice president between 1886 and 1900.
(6) McGuire successfully led the fight for the 8-hour day 
in 1890.
(7) In 1882, McGuire proposed that ``one day in the year be 
designated as Labor Day'', a proposal that was adopted first by 
a number of States and then as the first Monday in September by 
an Act of Congress in 1894.
(8) Upon McGuire's death in 1906, the United Brotherhood of 
Carpenters and Joiners commissioned from M.C. Lyons and Sons, 
Camden, and had installed a massive granite multistage 
headstone on McGuire's gravesite in the Arlington Cemetery at 
1629 Cove Road, Pennsauken, New Jersey, inscribed with ``P.J. 
MCGUIRE, BORN JULY 6, 1852 DIED FEB. 18, 1906'' and ``FOUNDER 
OF U.B. OF C. & J. OF A.''.
(9) Beginning in 1906, each year labor leaders, political 
leaders, families, and working people gather at McGuire's 
gravesite on Labor Day to lay wreaths and deliver speeches in 
tribute to McGuire and his great work.
(10) As the anniversary of McGuire's centennial birthday 
approached, the organizations he had helped to found decided to 
install a new memorial a short distance from McGuire's 
gravesite, consisting of a central statue of McGuire embraced 
by a semi-circular colonnade of marble columns.
(11) The Peter J. McGuire Memorial, completed in 1952, 
includes--
(A) an outdoor sculpture of McGuire, made of 
Cherokee Georgia marble, that shows him standing with 
his left arm against his chest and right arm, elbow 
bent, at his waist, and dressed in a frock or mourning 
coat;
(B) an inscription carved on front of the base of 
such sculpture that reads ``PETER J. MCGUIRE/JULY 6, 
1852/FEBRUARY 18, 1906'';
(C) a free-standing curvilinear colonnade of six 
Greek Doric columns, also made of Cherokee Georgia 
marble;
(D) an inscription on entablature frieze of the 
colonnade that reads ``IN MEMORY OF PETER J. MCGUIRE 
FOUNDER OF UBC AND FATHER OF LABOR DAY''; and
(E) an inscription on the base of the colonnade 
that reads ``ERECTED BY UNITED BROTHERHOOD OF 
CARPENTERS AND JOINERS OF AMERICA 1952''.
(12) Several thousand people, many of them ordinary union 
members, attended the Peter J. McGuire Memorial dedication 
ceremony on August 9, 1952, which featured as speakers--
(A) the president of the New Jersey Federation of 
Labor;
(B) the mayors of Camden and Pennsauken;
(C) General President Hutcheson of the United 
Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners;
(D) the president of the American Federation of 
Labor, William Green;
(E) the secretary and treasurer of the American 
Federation of Labor, George Meany, who later attained 
national significance himself; and
(F) the United States Secretary of Labor, Maurice 
Tobin.
(13) In 1956, when a new postage stamp dedicated to 
American labor was issued on Labor Day, President Dwight 
Eisenhower held a special ceremony at the White House in which 
he met with the family and descendants of McGuire.
(14) In 2004, McGuire was admitted to the Labor Hall of 
Fame of the United States Department of Labor, which has since 
been renamed the Hall of Honor.
(15) The New Jersey Historic Preservation Office has 
documented McGuire as a figure of transcendent national 
significance and importance in the labor history of the United 
States.
(16) The landscape characteristics, physical features, 
overall layout, and visual appearance of the Peter J. McGuire 
Memorial and Peter J. McGuire Gravesite reflect a high degree 
of overall integrity in terms of location, design, setting, 
materials, and workmanship.
(17) The sculptural representations of labor and union 
themes associated with McGuire's career as an effective labor 
leader and organizer that embellish the Peter J. McGuire 
Memorial and Peter J. McGuire Gravesite are intact and well-
preserved.
(18) National political and labor leaders have made annual 
pilgrimages to McGuire's gravesite since 1906 and to the Peter 
J. McGuire Memorial and Peter J. McGuire Gravesite every 
September on Labor Day or the Friday before Labor Day since 
1952.
(19) Unlike other known properties related to McGuire, the 
Peter J. McGuire Memorial and Peter J. McGuire Gravesite are 
the only properties that retain both the necessary direct 
association with McGuire as a person of national stature and 
the high level of integrity required for listing on the New 
Jersey Register of Historic Places and National Register of 
Historic Places.
(20) The Peter J. McGuire Memorial and Peter J. McGuire 
Gravesite satisfy the criteria for graves of historical figures 
and properties that have achieved significance within the past 
50 years under the following criteria consideration categories 
of the National Register of Historic Places--
(A) category (c), ``a grave of a historical figure 
of outstanding importance as there is no appropriate 
site or building associated with McGuire's productive 
life''; and
(B) category (f), ``a property primarily 
commemorative in intent if design, age, tradition, or 
symbolic value has invested it with its own exceptional 
significance''.
(21) In August 2017, the New Jersey State Historic 
Preservation Office certified that the Peter J. McGuire 
Memorial and Peter J. McGuire Gravesite are eligible for 
listing on the New Jersey Register of Historic Places and 
National Register of Historic Places.
(22) On August 22, 2018, the Peter J. McGuire Memorial and 
Peter J. McGuire Gravesite were added to the New Jersey 
Register of Historic Places and, subsequently, on January 17, 
2019, added to the National Register of Historic Places.

SEC. 3. DESIGNATION OF PETER J. MCGUIRE MEMORIAL NATIONAL COMMEMORATIVE 
SITE.

(a) Designation.--The Peter J. McGuire Memorial and Peter J. 
McGuire Gravesite, located in Pennsauken, New Jersey, is designated as 
the Peter J. McGuire Memorial National Commemorative Site.
(b) Effect of Designation.--The Commemorative Site shall not be 
considered to be a unit of the National Park System.
(c) Cooperative Agreements.--The Secretary may enter into 
cooperative agreements with appropriate public or private entities for 
the purposes of providing educational and interpretive facilities and 
programs for the public regarding the Peter J. McGuire Memorial 
National Commemorative Site.
(d) Technical and Financial Assistance.--The Secretary may provide 
technical and financial assistance to any entity with which the 
Secretary has entered into a cooperative agreement under subsection 
(c).
(e) No Effect on Actions of Property Owners.--Designation of the 
Peter J. McGuire Memorial National Commemorative Site shall not 
prohibit any actions which may otherwise be taken by any property 
owners, including the owners of the Peter J. McGuire Memorial National 
Commemorative Site, with respect to their property.
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