The Frances Perkins Homestead, seen from River Road, in Newcastle. Perkins owned the house from 1927 until her death in 1965. Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer

The Newcastle home of labor secretary Frances Perkins – the central architect behind the New Deal – will become Maine’s second national monument after a declaration by President Biden on Monday.

Perkins was the first woman to serve in a U.S. president’s cabinet, as secretary of labor under Franklin D. Roosevelt from 1933 to 1945. The longest-serving person in that post, she spearheaded New Deal reforms like Social Security, the 40-hour work week, child labor laws and the minimum wage.

The Frances Perkins National Monument will be run by the National Park Service, in collaboration with the nonprofit Frances Perkins Center. It is the second site in Maine to earn such a designation, along with Katahdin Woods and Waters, which was named a national monument in 2016.

Frances Perkins, 1918. She was the first woman to service in a U.S. president’s cabinet, as secretary of labor under Franklin D. Roosevelt from 1933 to 1945. Harris & Ewing, photographer

Perkins, who grew up mostly in Massachusetts, spent childhood summers at the property and returned throughout her life. The 57-acre homestead and farm was passed down through the Perkins family for more than 270 years. Frances Perkins owned the house from 1927 until her death in 1965.

Biden, along with Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su, Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland and other cabinet members, planned to attend the proclamation signing at the Frances Perkins Building in Washington D.C. on Monday.

“Honoring Frances Perkins with a national monument does more than acknowledge her work to establish Social Security, unemployment insurance, minimum wage and overtime pay, it is a challenge for us,” Su said. “We must all remember that the gains we enjoy today were not gifts, they were hard-fought victories because Frances Perkins dared to believe that workers should thrive and not just survive.”

The Frances Perkins Center and several Maine lawmakers officially asked Biden to designate Perkins’ family home as a national monument in August. The Newcastle homestead has been run by the Frances Perkins Center since 2020, when the organization purchased the property from the Perkins family. It was declared a national historic landmark in 2014.

The designation aligns with the mission of a March executive order directing the Department of the Interior to identify potential National Park Service sites that would honor women.

“Frances Perkins was an incredible trailblazer. I am grateful to President Biden for taking this step to ensure that current and future generations will learn about her body of work,” Haaland said in a release.

“Frances Perkins accepted the position as the first female Cabinet member only after President Franklin D. Roosevelt agreed to support her goals to improve working conditions for all people. She worked tirelessly to see them to fruition, and she set a standard of excellence that is a beacon for all of us who serve. Today, we’re taking a step to ensure that children growing up across America know the name Frances Perkins and understand the impact she has had on our country.”