Thaddeus Kosciuszko National Memorial

Thaddeus Kosciuszko National Memorial
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Memorial
(2013)
Location	301 Pine St. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Coordinates
Area	0.02 acres (0.0081 ha)
Built	1775
Architect	Joseph Few
Visitation	4,107 (2005)
NRHP Reference #	70000068
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. Kosciuszko's secretary, Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz, having been instructed to find "a dwelling as small, as remote, and as cheap" as possible, chose Mrs. Ann Relf's boarding house at the corner of 3rd and Pine Streets in Society Hill. Here, where Kosciuszko recuperated from his wounds while 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 Miami people, and Chief Joseph Brant of the Mohawk nation.

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.

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

See also

• Philadelphia portal
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Center City, Philadelphia

References

Notes

Bibliography

• The National Parks: Index 2001–2003. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of the Interior.

External links

• Media related to at Wikimedia Commons
• Official NPS website: Thaddeus Kosciuszko National Memorial
• Thaddeus Kosciuszko House listing, drawings, and photographs at the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) (Library of Congress)
• "Brief History: The Smallest National Park" by Robert Smith, All Things Considered, 30 June 2008. Retrieved 1 July 2008.