[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 7]
[House]
[Pages 10335-10336]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




 AUTHORIZING THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR TO ACQUIRE CERTAIN PROPERTY 
            RELATED TO THE FORT SCOTT NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE

  Mr. LaHOOD. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 1541) to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to acquire 
certain property related to the Fort Scott National Historic Site in 
Fort Scott, Kansas, and for other purposes.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 1541

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

     SECTION 1. AUTHORIZATION TO ACQUIRE LUNETTE BLAIR.

       The Act entitled ``An Act to authorize establishment of the 
     Fort Scott National Historic Site, Kansas, and for other 
     purposes.'', approved October 19, 1978 (Public Law 95-484) is 
     amended--
       (1) in the first section--
       (A) by inserting ``only'' after ``donation''; and
       (B) by striking ``: Provided, that the buildings so 
     acquired shall not include the structure known as `Lunette 
     Blair'''; and
       (2) in section 2--
       (A) by striking ``When the site of'' and inserting ``(a) 
     When the site of''; and
       (B) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(b) The boundary of the Fort Scott National Historic Site 
     established under subsection (a) is modified as generally 
     depicted on the map referred to as `Fort Scott National 
     Historic Site Proposed Boundary Modification', numbered 471/
     80,057C, and dated February 2017.''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. LaHood) and the gentleman from California (Mr. Panetta) 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Illinois.


                             General Leave

  Mr. LaHOOD. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may 
have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include 
extraneous material on the bill under consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Illinois?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. LaHOOD. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  H.R. 1541, sponsored by the gentlewoman from Kansas (Ms. Jenkins), 
removes the statutory prohibition preventing the Secretary of the 
Interior from acquiring a structure known as the Lunette Blair 
blockhouse and including the structure in the boundary of the Fort 
Scott National Historic Site.
  Congress initially deemed the Lunette Blair blockhouse anachronistic 
and excluded the structure from the boundaries of the Fort Scott 
National Historic Site. The National Park Service now wants to add the 
blockhouse to expand the interpretation of the site and to demonstrate 
its different roles throughout American history. The private citizens 
that currently maintain the blockhouse would like to donate the 
structure to the National Park Service.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support preservation of this 
unique piece of Kansas' heritage, and I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. PANETTA. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, H.R. 1541 authorizes the National Park Service to expand 
the boundary of the Fort Scott National Historic Site in Fort Scott, 
Kansas.

                              {time}  1700

  Fort Scott was designated as a National Historic Landmark back in 
1964. Eight years later, in 1972, Congress established the site as a 
unit of the National Park Service ``to commemorate the significant role 
played by Fort Scott in the opening of the West, as well as the Civil 
War and strife in the State of Kansas that preceded it.''
  The site is currently a modest 16 acres. The additions authorized by 
this bill will add approximately 3.8 acres to the park. The properties 
to be added include the only intact Civil War era building, Civil War 
entrenchments and fortifications, and home sites of the first African-
American families who settled in the area after the war.
  Preserving the story of freedom on the frontier is an important goal, 
and I urge my colleagues to vote for this bill.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. LaHOOD. Mr. Speaker, I note that the sponsor, Ms. Jenkins, was 
unable to be here to speak in support of her bill. She was unavoidably 
detained in her district due to a flight cancellation today. However, I 
have her statement in strong support of the measure. On her behalf, I 
urge adoption of the measure.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Ms. JENKINS of Kansas. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 1541, 
legislation that would strike a prohibition in the Fort Scott National 
Historic Site's enabling law that prohibited the incorporation of the 
structure known as the Lunette Blair blockhouse into the site's 
formation.
  Fortunately, the blockhouse still sits right across the street from 
the historic site, where, under the future care of the National Park

[[Page 10336]]

Service, it can remain on display in perpetuity without disrupting the 
grounds' antebellum view shed, successfully linking the site's frontier 
fort structures with the community's Civil War legacy.
  Located in the historic town of Fort Scott, Kansas, the Fort Scott 
National Historic Site preserves the important story of the original 
frontier fort's role in nineteenth-century America. It serves as a 
physical snapshot of the pioneer days of westward migration of a young 
republic, from its initial construction 175 years ago, and portrays a 
figurative stepping-stone upon the prairie toward a transcontinental 
nation.
  However, the story of the community of Fort Scott continues from that 
point on as the town grew around the shuttered fort of the same name. 
The community's history itself invokes the violent struggles of the era 
we all know as Bleeding Kansas and the conflicts of the Civil War.
  After the U.S. Army demobilized Fort Scott in 1853 following the 
collapse of a permanent Indian frontier, private residents purchased 
the last of its property; the buildings of the old fort became the new 
town. Soon after, Americans of opposing sentiments, abolitionists, 
free-staters, and Border Ruffians alike, settled the area throughout 
the rest of the decade in turmoil. While the territory of Kansas 
ultimately became the free state of Kansas on January 29, 1861, violent 
conflict soon engulfed the entire nation.
  During the Civil War, the Union Army militarized the town of Fort 
Scott to store Union supplies and to deter Confederate invasions into 
Southeast Kansas. The Union Army constructed many fortifications in the 
surrounding area, including four garrisoned blockhouses, or 
``lunettes,'' fortified structures with designated names, such as Fort 
Lincoln, Fort Insley, Fort Henning, and Fort Blair, in order to house 
soldiers and armaments while protecting the town's approach.
  While these structures successfully deterred such attacks, the U.S. 
War Department considered these four blockhouses as surplus property 
after the Civil War and sold them at auction to private individuals. 
The structure called Fort Blair, known locally today as Lunette Blair 
is the sole remaining Civil War blockhouse standing today.
  Mr. Speaker, it is only through the diligent stewardship of the 
citizens of Fort Scott, Kansas, and their dedication to preserve the 
community's heritage, that the Lunette Blair blockhouse still stands 
after all these years.
  Members of the Fort Scott community support the donation of the 
blockhouse to the National Park Service and this proposal is in line 
with the sites' overall mission: to tell the encompassing story of Fort 
Scott's role in westward migration and to demonstrate the community's 
contribution in preserving our Union during the Civil War.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Illinois (Mr. LaHood) that the House suspend the rules 
and pass the bill, H.R. 1541.
  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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