[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 94 (Tuesday, July 18, 2006)]
[House]
[Page H5286]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               SPRINGFIELD ARMORY NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE

  (Mr. NEAL of Massachusetts asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. NEAL of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, yesterday the House passed 
H.R. 4376, the Springfield Armory National Historic Site, Massachusetts 
Act of 2005. This legislation authorizes the National Park Service to 
enter into a cooperative agreement with the Commonwealth of 
Massachusetts on behalf of the superb Springfield Technical Community 
College.
  The Springfield Armory Museum is home to Longfellow's famous gun rack 
which inspired the arsenal at Springfield, home to the Springfield 
rifle, the Gerrand rifle, the site of Shay's rebellion and located on 
the Knox Trail which General Knox used and traversed as he moved to 
Boston and Dorchester for those fateful days of the American 
Revolution.
  This legislation seeks to recognize and update the partnership 
between the Park Service and the college by authorizing the Park 
Service to enter into a cooperative agreement with the Commonwealth to 
provide financial assistance to the college for the purpose of 
maintaining, preserving, renovating and rehabilitating many of the 
historic structures within the Springfield National Historic Site.
  This is a very important piece of legislation, Mr. Speaker, and it 
actually will allow a cooperative agreement to take place that will 
transform the complexion of what is also the site of the famous 
Olmstead Papers. I am grateful for this recognition that the House 
offered yesterday on behalf of these two individual sites.

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