Image above: Sign for the Frances Perkins Homestead, unknown. Courtesy Frances Perkins Homestead and National Monument.
Spotlight on Lesser Known History
Frances Perkins National Monument, Maine
America's Best History Spotlight
On this page we're going to Spotlight the lesser known historic sites and attractions that dot the history landscape across the USA and are worth a visit if you're in their area. And while they may be lesser known, some are very unique, and will be that rare find. You'll be, at times, on the ground floor, or maybe even know something others don't. It'll be fun. Visit them.
Frances Perkins National Monument, Maine
It's an honor that should have come much sooner, dedicating sites to the women who made the United States great. Frances Perkins was certainly one of those, and her family homestead in Maine, where she spent summers with her grandmother, is a great place to learn more about the first female cabinet secretary and Secretary of Labor. This is a new national monument and you might want to wait to visit inside the house, currently closed in 2025 for renovation, but there is a new Welcome Center with interpretation, passports, and orientation. Her story, as told in the 1837 barn in the exhibit, "Life and Legacy of Frances Perkins," is also there now. Plus the acreage of beauty that a New England farm presents can be seen from the walking trail that circles the site. The National Monument was signed into law on December 16, 2024 by President Biden.
Image above: Brick house with view from the side at the Frances Perkins National Monument, unknown date, Keri Herer. Courtesy Frances Perkins Center.
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Info, What's There Now, History Nearby
Frances Perkins National Monument, Maine
And why was Frances Perkins so consequential well beyond becoming a first? Just ask every Social Security recipient if they need or like their checks. She was the architect of that. Not only the architect of that landmark legislation, but the proposer of unemployment insurance and worker's compensation, plus minimum wage and the forty hour work week. During some of the most consequential times in our history; three years from the Stock Market crash, up into World War II, Perkins was beside FDR as his Labor Secretary for all twelve years he was in office.
Image above: President Franklin Delano Roosevelt with Frances Perkins behind him while Signing the Social Security Act, 1935, Acme News. Courtesy Library of Congress. Below: Map of the trail system at the Frances Perkins National Monument, unknown date, Frances Perkins Center.
Where Is It
The Frances Perkins Monument is located at 478 River Road, Newcastle, ME 04553.
What is There Now
Frances Perkins Homestead, Maine
Fifty-seven acres surround the homestead of Frances Perkins with the brick house, 1837 barn, farm buidings, and one and one half miles of walking trails throughout. There are exhibits inside the 1837 barn, and various events, including book talks and more, held throughout the year. Since this is a new national monument, the National Park Service is conducting archaeological work and renovation on the house, and will be finalizing visitor plans for that building and the monument itself in the future in conjuction with the Frances Perkins Center.
When Open and How Much
The walking trails are dawn to dusk daily. The Welcome Center, exhibits, and the 1837 Barn have differing hours and days throughout the year, please check with the Frances Perkins Center before going. Summer hours for 2025 are Thursday through Sunday 10 am to 2 pm. The house is currently closed for renovation in 2025.
Fees and hours are subject to change.
Website
Frances Perkins National Monument
Frances Perkins Center
History Nearby
Just a few of the many historic and natural sights to see in Maine if you're on a Frances Perkins tour, or more likely stopping there after visit Acadia National Park of hiking that Appalachian Trail.
Photos, History, and More Spotlights
Frances Perkins Homestead
This was the Perkins family home where Frances lived at various times of her life. Her father had lived in Newcastle with ancestors in the areas since 1750. They were Republicans. Yes, Frances would become a Democrat. The homestead was a salt-water farm on the edge of the Demariscotta River. The brick home there dates back to 1837; other outbuildings, including the barn, 2.8 miles of stone walls, and now trails to walk among them, remain. There are remnants of other homes, as well as the pits and buildings associated with the family brick business, which struggled after the Civil War and caused her father and family to move to Boston, then Worcester. It remained the home of her grandmother and other family members, and Frances spent most formative summers there.
The Homestead remains in the ownership of the Frances Perkins Center, but is now protected by its status and assistance of the National Park Service.
Photo above: Interior photo of Frances Perkins Homestead brick home, unknown date, Keri Herer. Courtesy Frances Perkins Center.
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Secretary of Labor
Frances Coralie Perkins was born in 1880 in Massachusetts. She graduated from Columbia University and became an advocate in New York City for safer workplaces, safe food, and safe medicine. Frances must have influenced Robert Kennedy, Jr. While at that job, on March 25, 1911, a fire nearby consumed the Triangle Workplace Factory, killing one hundred and forty-six people. In her own words after that disaster, "The New Deal was born that day."
The impetus of that disaster thrust Perkins into the role of Executive Secretary of the New York commission to investigate workplace safety. By 1919, she was appointed to the New York State Industrial Commission by Governor Al Smith, paid $8,000 to boot; in 1929, New York Governor Franklin Delano Roosevelt named her Industrial Commissioner.
There was no surprise after the 1932 election elevated FDR to President that he would appoint Frances Perkins as Secretary of Labor. She was not a sit down government employee. By August 14, 1935, she had convinced Congress and President Roosevelt to sign that act for Federal Old-Age Benefits, Social Security. The legislation was not popular with all and its opponents sued. On May 24, 1937, the Supreme Court upheld that the Social Security Act was constitutional.
Image above: Photo of Frances Perkins (center) flanked by John L. Lewis, head of the C.I.O. (left) and James Dewey, entering meeting about labor dispute in the coal industry, 1939, Harris and Ewing. Courtesy Library of Congress.
Frances Perkins Department of Labor Building
During President John F. Kennedy's administration, it was decided that the Department of Labor needed a new headquarters. The department was spread among twenty different buildings and there was a need for consolidation, hopefully leading to efficiency. It would be built at 200 Constitution Avenue NW, contain one million square feet of space, and cost $95 million. The building was six stories tall and made with steel and limestone. Construction began in the mid-1960's with completion and occupation in February 1975.
It was not originally named for Frances Perkins; would take five years for the change. Pushed by the suggestion of an employee of the United Auto Workers to Senator Carl Levin of Michigan, Congress approved the appropriate designation. On April 10, 1980, the ceremony was held with President Carter and Secretary of Labor Ray Marshall on the dais. Perkins' daughter, Susanna Coggeshall, was also in attendance.
Photo above: Photo above: Frances Perkins Department of Labor Building, 2010, AgnosticPreachersKid. Courtesy Wikipedia Commons C.C. 3.0.
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