Thaddeus Kosciuszko National Memorial

Thaddeus Kosciuszko National Memorial
(2013)
Location 301 Pine St.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Coordinates 39°56′35.99″N 75°8′51.03″W / 39.9433306°N 75.1475083°WCoordinates: 39°56′35.99″N 75°8′51.03″W / 39.9433306°N 75.1475083°W
Area 0.02 acres (0.0081 ha)
Built 1775
Architect Joseph Few
Visitation 4,107 (2005)
Governing body National Park Service
NRHP Reference # 70000068[1]
Added to NRHP December 18, 1970

Thaddeus Kosciuszko National Memorial, at 301 Pine Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, preserves the home of Tadeusz (Thaddeus) Kościuszko. The life and work of the Polish patriot and hero of the American Revolution are commemorated here

Thaddeus Kosciuszko House in May 1972, prior to restoration

Kosciuszko returned to America to a hero's welcome after his wounding, capture, imprisonment, and banishment from his native Poland occupied by Russia, in 1796. Instructed to find "a dwelling as small, as remote, and as cheap" as possible, Kosciuszko's secretary, Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz, chose Mrs. Ann Relf's boarding house in Society Hill (on the corner of 3rd and Pine Streets). Here, while Kosciuszko recuperated from his wounds (rarely leaving the house), he was visited by numerous luminaries of the day, including Vice President Thomas Jefferson, architect Benjamin Latrobe, William Paterson (a signer of the US Constitution), Chief Little Turtle of the Miamis, and Chief Joseph Brant of the Mohawk.

The home was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 18, 1970. The National Memorial was authorized on October 21, 1972. It is administered under Independence National Historical Park, but is counted as a separate unit of the national park system. At 0.02 acres (0.0081 ha) 0.02 acre (80 m²), the memorial is America's smallest national park or unit of the National Park System.[2]

The site is currently open for touring, Saturday and Sunday, noon to 4pm. There are no fees, tickets, or reservations required to visit this site.

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