[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 214 (Thursday, December 17, 2020)]
[House]
[Pages H7251-H7252]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          WEIR FARM NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK REDESIGNATION ACT

  Mr. GALLEGO. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 5852) to redesignate the Weir Farm National Historic Site in 
the State of Connecticut as the ``Weir Farm National Historical Park''.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 5852

       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 ``Weir Farm National 
     Historical Park Redesignation Act''.

     SEC. 2. WEIR FARM NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK.

       (a) In General.--The Weir Farm National Historic Site shall 
     be known and designated as the ``Weir Farm National 
     Historical Park''.
       (b) Amendments to the Weir Farm National Historic Site 
     Establishment Act of 1990.--The Weir Farm National Historic 
     Site Establishment Act of 1990 (54 U.S.C. 320101 note; Public 
     Law 101-485; 104 Stat. 1171; 108 Stat. 4756; 112 Stat. 3296; 
     123 Stat. 1190) is amended--
       (1) in section 2(2)--
       (A) by striking ``historic site'' and inserting 
     ``historical park''; and
       (B) by striking ``National Historic Site'' and inserting 
     ``National Historical Park'';
       (2) in section 4--
       (A) in the heading, by striking ``historic site'' and 
     inserting ``historical park'';
       (B) in subsection (a), by striking ``Historic Site'' and 
     inserting ``Historical Park''; and
       (C) by striking ``historic site'' each place it appears and 
     inserting ``historical park'';
       (3) in section 5, by striking ``historic site'' each place 
     it appears and inserting ``historical park''; and
       (4) in section 6--
       (A) in the heading, by striking ``historic site'' and 
     inserting ``historical park''; and
       (B) by striking ``historic site'' each place it appears and 
     inserting ``historical park''.
       (c) References.--Any reference in any law, regulation, 
     document, record, map, or other paper of the United States to 
     the Weir Farm National Historic Site shall be considered to 
     be a reference to the ``Weir Farm National Historical Park''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Arizona (Mr. Gallego) and the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Wittman) 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Arizona.


                             General Leave

  Mr. GALLEGO. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and 
include extraneous material on the measure under consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Arizona?
  There was no objection.

                              {time}  1500

  Mr. GALLEGO. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.

[[Page H7252]]

  I rise in support of H.R. 5852, the Weir Farm National Historical 
Park Redesignation Act, introduced by Representative  Jim Himes.
  In 1882, American artist Julian Alden Weir traded a still life 
painting he had acquired in Europe for a 153-acre farm in Branchville, 
Connecticut. Inspired by the farm's rural setting, Weir spent the next 
36 years developing a new approach to landscape painting and gained a 
reputation as a leader of the American Impressionists.
  In 1990, Congress established the Weir Farm National Historic Site to 
preserve the structures and rural landscape that inspired Weir's 
transition into American Impressionism. Today, the 68-acre site 
includes more than a dozen structures, as well as historic gardens, 
orchards, fields, and hundreds of historic painting sites. The National 
Historic Site also maintains a museum collection containing more than 
200,000 archives and objects, including original paintings, sculptures, 
and prints.
  H.R. 5852 would redesignate the Weir Farm National Historic Site as 
the Weir Farm National Historical Park to conform with the National 
Park Service's standard pattern of nomenclature and to help promote 
increased visitation to the area.
  Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I 
reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. WITTMAN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  H.R. 5852 would redesignate Weir Farm National Historic Site in 
Connecticut as a National Historical Park.
  This 68-acre historic site is the only National Park System unit 
dedicated to American painting and was established as a unit of the 
system in 1990. It preserves the home, studio, and grounds of American 
artist Julian Alden Weir.
  Weir spent nearly four decades painting, and his artist friends 
Childe Hassam, John Twachtman, Emil Carlsen, John Singer Sargent, and 
Albert Pinkham Ryder often joined him there. Together, they created 
masterpieces of light and color on canvas that came to define American 
Impressionism.
  Following his death, Weir's daughter, Dorothy Weir Young, an artist 
in her own right, and her sculptor husband carried on the artistic 
legacy at the farm. They were followed by New England painters Sperry 
and Doris Andrews.
  Madam Speaker, redesignation of Weir Farm as a national historic park 
does not affect the laws or policies that govern the area. I urge 
adoption of this measure, and I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. GALLEGO. Madam Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to 
the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Himes).
  Mr. HIMES. Madam Speaker, I thank my friend, Mr. Gallego, for 
yielding.
  I rise in strong support of H.R. 5852.
  Weir Farm is a magnificent jewel that resides in the middle of my 
district.
  I should say at the outset, my district is actually smaller than a 
great number of the national park assets in this country, and so much 
of the agriculture that used to characterize southwestern Connecticut, 
of course, has given way to urban environments and to suburban 
environments. As a consequence, this 70 acres of land is truly a jewel 
inside Connecticut's Fourth District and inside Fairfield County, 
Connecticut.
  The Weir Farm National Historic Site stretches across just 70 acres 
of land, but in those 70 acres, there are any number of historical 
buildings, a vast collection of American art, orchards and landscapes, 
trails, gardens, miles of stone walls, and Weir Pond, as well as over 
250 historic painting sites.
  Sometimes people don't remember--though I appreciate my colleagues 
today reminding everyone--that southwestern Connecticut has a long 
tradition of the production of American art, including Childe Hassam, 
who resided in my own town of Cos Cob, Connecticut.
  But this particular national historical site, soon to become a 
national historical park, offers an opportunity, in particular, to the 
children who live in Stamford, Connecticut; Norwalk, Connecticut; and 
Bridgeport, Connecticut, cities that actually do have some meaningful 
poverty and in which children don't have a lot of opportunities to come 
face-to-face with their history, face-to-face with art, and face-to-
face with our agricultural heritage, to actually see and touch these 
things.
  It is a really wonderful location in the middle of Fairfield County, 
Connecticut, and this redesignation will capture the full breadth and 
the full comprehensive set of offerings that the Weir Farm National 
Historical Park will continue to offer the people of Connecticut and, 
quite frankly, the people of the United States.
  The park's designation today fails to represent everything that the 
farm offers, including the remarkable youth programs that I referred to 
earlier, where organizations like Groundwork Bridgeport have partnered 
with Weir Farm to provide young people with opportunities that they 
might not otherwise have.
  Before I close, Madam Speaker, I would like to thank Chairwoman 
Haaland, Chairman Grijalva of the subcommittee, Ranking Member Bishop, 
and Representative Young for working on this piece of legislation.
  I thank the Friends of Weir Farm, including Elizabeth Castagna and 
Judy Wander, who have pushed this very hard, and the hardworking men 
and women at Weir Farm, including Linda Cook, the superintendent.
  Finally, I thank my colleague, Senator Murphy, who will be seeing 
that this bill moves expeditiously through the United States Senate.
  I also thank, again, my friend, Mr. Gallego.
  Mr. WITTMAN. Madam Speaker, I have no other speakers, and I yield 
back the balance of my time.
  Mr. GALLEGO. Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the 
legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Gallego) that the House suspend the rules 
and pass the bill, H.R. 5852.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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