The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation announced yesterday that the Kate Mullany National Historic Site on 8th Street (just north of Hoosick Street) here in Troy has been included in the newly created New York State Women's Heritage Trail. The Mullany House, which has been designated a National Historic Landmark, is the only site featuring an early trade leader and its inclusion will undoubtedly bring more visitors. Efforts are currently underway to restore the historic three-story house to what it was like when Kate Mullany lived there in the 1870s.Here's the press release (with minor modifications in formatting):
STATE PARKS UNVEILS WOMEN’S HERITAGE TRAIL
22 Sites Celebrate the History of Women in New York State
(Albany, New York, Tuesday, March 27, 2007 . . . ) New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation Acting Commissioner Carol Ash today announced creation of the New York State Women’s Heritage Trail designed to highlight the significant contribution of women in the history of New York State. The Heritage Trail is established by Heritage New York, a program within the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.
“New York is home to countless women whose leadership and influence have shaped the history of our state and the future of our nation,” said Ash. “The Women’s Heritage Trail recognizes the significant contributions of these remarkable individuals and will serve as an important educational tool for generations.”
“These world class facilities focus on the daily life, culture and inspirational contributions of women in New York State,” said Ash of the Trail’s 22 designated sites or museums.
Notable sites along the Women’s Heritage Trail include the birthplace of the Women’s Right Movement at Seneca Falls; the homes of key women’s rights proponents such as Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton; and other influential women in history, including Harriet Tubman and Eleanor Roosevelt.
“It is fitting for the creation of the Women’s Heritage Trail, a celebration of the contributions of women to our state and national history, to be announced in March during Women’s History Month,” said Rich White-Smith, Director of Heritage New York. “The sites on this trail reveal the depth and diversity of women’s achievements and struggles through history, from nameless immigrants to national leaders.”
The mission of Heritage New York is to preserve, interpret and celebrate the many important events, places and people associated with the state’s history through a series of Heritage Trails based on significant historical themes. Heritage Trails include the Revolutionary War, the Underground Railroad and the Theodore Roosevelt. For more information on New York State Heritage Trails, visit www.HeritageNY.gov.
“By establishing this heritage trail linking the state’s remarkable landmarks, we are highlighting New York State’s unique role in advancing the cause of women’s rights, as well as emphasizing the important contributions of individual women in our nation’s history,” said Ash. “I invite all New Yorker’s to visit these sites and continue to learn about our history and all these facilities have to offer.”
The 22 New York State Women’s Heritage Trail sites include:
- Matilda Joslyn Gage Home (Fayetteville);
- Johnson Hall State Historic Site (Johnstown);
- Marcella Sembrich Opera Museum (Bolton Landing);
- Constitution Island-Warner House (Cold Spring);
- Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Museum (Jamestown);
- Susan B. Anthony House (Rochester);
- Alice Austen House Museum (State Island);
- National Women’s Hall of Fame (Seneca Falls);
- Letchworth Museum & Council Grounds (Castile);
- Eleanor Roosevelt National Historic Site (Hyde Park);
- Historic Cherry Hill (Albany);
- Harriet Tubman Home (Auburn);
- Wilderstein Historic Site (Rhinebeck);
- Howland Stone Store Museum (Sherwood);
- Watervliet Shaker Historic District (Colonie);
- Ganondagan State Historic Site (Victor);
- Weeksville Heritage Center (Brooklyn);
- Lower East Side Tenement Museum (New York);
- Women’s Rights National Historical Park (Seneca Falls);
- Edna St. Vincent Millay’s Steepletop House (Austerlitz);
- Kate Mullany National History Site (Troy); and
- Shaker Museum and Library (Old Chatham).
Kate Mullany (c. 1845-1906) House
This modest three-story brick house is the only surviving building associated with Kate Mullany, a young Irish immigrant laundry worker who in 1864 organized and led the all-female "Collar Laundry Union" labor union. Even though the women laborers of Lowell, Massachusetts and elsewhere had been organizing unions to protest working conditions and wages since the 1840s, early women's unions often only lasted as long as the particular issue under debate. The Collar Laundry Union, unlike so many other unions, remained an organized force in the industries of Troy, New York more than five years after its inception. The origins of Kate Mullany's union date back to the 1820s, when entrepreneurs established the nation's first commercial laundry in Troy to wash, starch, and iron a local invention, the "detachable collar." By the 1860s, Troy supplied most of America's detachable collars and cuffs, employing over 3,700 women launderers, starchers, and ironers. Working 14 hour days for $2 a week, the women launderers labored in oppressive heat. When owners introduced new machinery that increased production, but worsened working conditions, a young woman named Kate Mullany organized a union to demand change. In February of 1864, Mullany and 200 other workers formed the Collar Laundry Union. The well organized union struck and demanded a 25 cent raise, and the laundry owners capitulated a week after the strike began. The Collar Laundry Union remained active in Troy, often assisting other unions, and even attempted to establish an employee cooperative. Mullany herself gained national recognition in 1868, when National Labor Union President William Sylvis made her the first female appointed to a labor union's national office. One of the American labor movement's earliest women leaders, the home of Kate Mullany exemplifies a strong tradition of women's union activity. The property is not open to the public.
For additional background information, please see:
- Kate Mullaney [sic]: A True Labor Pioneer, which includes a brief biblography.
- Carole Turbin's book, Working Women of the Collar City.
- Then First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton's July 15, 1998 remarks in front of the Kate Mullany house as part of her Save America's Treasures tour.
