Pioneer Information
Born in New York City in 1884, Eleanor Roosevelt was the wife and political partner of New York governor and thirty-second United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt. As First Lady (1933-1945), she became involved in various social services and the promotion of world peace, taking a more active role in politics after her husband became sick with polio in 1921.
At the suggestion of her husband in 1924, Eleanor and two friends, Nancy Cook and Marion Dickerman, developed Val-Kill, a retreat near a stream on the Roosevelt’s nearly 700-acre property in Hyde Park, New York. Over time, Val-Kill (now the Eleanor Roosevelt National Historic Site) came to comprise Cook’s and Dickerman’s residence known as Stone Cottage, productive and ornamental gardens, swimming pool, stables, ancillary structures, and Val-Kill Industries, a non-profit furniture factory that provided additional employment opportunities for local agricultural workers. Eleanor later renovated the factory into Val-Kill Cottage where she resided temporarily after her husband’s death, pursuing humanitarian and advocacy efforts, writing, hosting political discussions, and chairing the committee that drafted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948).
In 1950, Eleanor took up residence in Washington Square Park in New York City, and in 1958, she joined activists Jane Jacobs and Shirley Hayes in opposing the extension of 5th avenue through the park. Eleanor Roosevelt died at 78 in New York City and is buried next to her husband and two dogs in the rose garden at their Springwood estate in Hyde Park.
