[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 11]
[House]
[Pages 16144-16145]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



          ACQUISITION OF THE HUNT HOUSE IN WATERLOO, NEW YORK

  Mr. HANSEN. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
Senate bill (S. 1910) to amend the Act establishing Women's Rights 
National Historical Park to permit the Secretary of the Interior to 
acquire title in fee simple to the Hunt House located in Waterloo, New 
York.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                                S. 1910

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

     SECTION. 1. ACQUISITION OF HUNT HOUSE.

       (a) In General.--Section 1601(d) of Public Law 96-607 (94 
     Stat. 3547; 16 U.S.C. 410ll(d)) is amended--
       (1) in the first sentence--
       (A) by inserting a period after ``park''; and
       (B) by striking the remainder of the sentence; and
       (2) by striking the last sentence.
       (b) Technical Correction.--Section 1601(c)(8) of Public Law 
     96-607 (94 Stat. 3547; 16 U.S.C. 410ll(c)(8)) is amended by 
     striking ``Williams'' and inserting ``Main''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Utah (Mr. Hansen) and the gentleman from Guam (Mr. Underwood) each will 
control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Utah (Mr. Hansen).
  Mr. HANSEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  S. 1910, sponsored by Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan from New York, 
authorizes fee simple acquisition of a dwelling called the Hunt House 
in the Women's Rights National Historical Park located in Seneca Falls 
and Waterloo, New York.

                              {time}  1630

  Companion legislation has been introduced by the gentleman from New 
York (Mr. Reynolds), our good friend.
  The Women's Rights National Historical Park was designated in 1980 
and commemorates and interprets women's struggles for equal rights 
which began in these locations in 1848. The historical park consists of 
nine different sites, including the home of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, the 
former Wesleyan Methodist chapel, and the Hunt House. However, when the 
law designating the historical park was passed, it contained a 
provision that prevented the Federal Government from acquiring these 
three structures by fee simple title.
  This bill removes the provision, thereby clearing the way for the 
Federal Government to purchase this important site for this historical 
park.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. UNDERWOOD. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, S. 1910 is a noncontroversial bill introduced by Senator 
Moynihan, which passed the Senate in April of this year.
  The legislation authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to acquire 
full title to the Hunt House in Waterloo, New York, for management as 
part of the Women's Rights National Historical Park. Hunt House is 
already within the boundaries of the park, but the park's enabling 
legislation restricted the Secretary to acquiring less than full title. 
S. 1910 would lift that restriction and correct that error.
  Hunt House is currently owned by the National Trust for Historic 
Preservation. The trust intends to donate the house to the National 
Park Service. The National Park Service supports this acquisition, and 
we support it as well.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. HANSEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the 
gentleman from New York (Mr. Reynolds).
  Mr. REYNOLDS. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the gentleman from 
Utah (Mr. Hansen), the chairman of the Subcommittee on National Parks 
and Public Lands, as someone I look to for guidance and advice on a 
number of resource pieces of legislation that come through his 
committee. Also, I want to thank the gentleman from Alaska (Mr. Young), 
the Committee on Resources chairman, and the gentleman from California 
(Mr. George Miller), the ranking member, for their hard work in 
bringing this important measure to the floor.
  Mr. Speaker, S. 1910, a bill identical to the legislation I 
introduced last year, H.R. 3404, is a technical bill with enormous 
historic significance.
  In a letter to John Adams, Thomas Jefferson wrote that ``a morsel of 
genuine history is a thing so rare as to be always valuable.''
  In my congressional district, such a morsel of genuine history exists 
today, the Hunt House, birthplace of the women's rights movement. And 
its value to my community is measured by its significant contribution 
to American history, because the coming together of people and events 
behind the distinctive white pillars of this Federal style brick home 
forever changed American society.
  On July 9, 1848, Jane and Richard Hunt hosted a tea at their home at 
401 East Main Street in Waterloo, New York; and like another famous tea 
party, held 75 years earlier, this meeting sparked a new revolution for 
liberty and human rights.
  It was at this gathering that Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, 
her sister Martha Wright, and Mary Ann M'Clintock planned the Nation's 
first women's rights convention.
  Following this historic meeting, several of these women drafted the 
Declaration of Sentiments which was presented at the women's rights 
convention in Seneca Falls, New York, on July 19 and 20 in 1848.
  Even before this seminal meeting, Quakers Richard and Jane Hunt were 
active reformers and abolitionists. Their holdings included the 
M'Clintock Home and Drug Store, where in-laws harbored fugitive slaves 
and hosted famous speakers, such as Frederick Douglass; and their home 
and business were likely stops in the underground railroad.
  The Hunts' contributions to their community were tremendous, creating 
opportunity and fostering human rights. Richard Hunt provided 
educational opportunity by founding an academy at Waterloo in 1844 and 
actively worked for abolitionist causes.
  The Hunt family network and personal wealth supported reform efforts 
throughout upstate New York, including the 1848 Seneca Falls women's 
rights convention.
  Mr. Speaker, this legislation simply ensures that a valuable piece of 
history will be available and accessible to future generations. The 
bill authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to acquire without 
restriction the Hunt House as part of the Women's Rights National 
Historic Park.
  When the Women's Right National Historical Park was established, the 
Hunt House was in private ownership and not open for public tours or 
special events. However, in 1999 the property was put up for sale.
  The Trust for Public Land and the National Trust for Historical 
Preservation worked together and purchased the Hunt House to ensure 
that the property would be available for public use and enjoyment.
  Currently, the National Trust for Historical Preservation is leasing 
the Hunt House to the Women's Rights National Historic Park for $1 a 
year. Their intent in acquiring the property was to hold it until such 
time as the National Park Service had the authority to acquire a fee 
simple title to the

[[Page 16145]]

property and open it to the public as part of the Women's Rights 
National Historical Park.
  The changes made by this bill are necessary and essentially technical 
in nature due to the number of errors that have been made over the 
years in amending Public Law 96-607.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this important bill and 
support the preservation of American history.
  Mr. HANSEN. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I 
yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Pease). The question is on the motion 
offered by the gentleman from Utah (Mr. Hansen) that the House suspend 
the rules and pass the Senate bill, S. 1910.
  The question was taken.
  Mr. HANSEN. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the 
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be 
postponed.

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