[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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