Thaddeus Kosciuszko National Memorial

Infobox_nrhp | name =Thaddeus Kosciuszko National Memorial
nrhp_type =


caption =
location= 301 Pine St.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
lat_degrees = 39
lat_minutes = 56
lat_seconds = 35.99
lat_direction = N
long_degrees = 75
long_minutes = 8
long_seconds = 51.03
long_direction = W
locmapin = Pennsylvania
area = 0.02 acre (80 m²)
built =1775
architect= Joseph Few
architecture=
added = December 18, 1970
visitation_num = 4,107
visitation_year = 2005
governing_body = National Park Service
refnum=70000068cite web|url=http://www.nr.nps.gov/|title=National Register Information System|date=2007-01-23|work=National Register of Historic Places|publisher=National Park Service]

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

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 acre (80 m²), the memorial is often referred to as America's smallest "national park" (or unit of the National Park System). Benjamin Franklin National Memorial is even smaller (only a statue), but that national memorial is designated an "affiliated area" rather than a "unit" because it is not administered by the federal government.

References

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

External links

* Official NPS website: [http://www.nps.gov/thko/ Thaddeus Kosciuszko National Memorial]
* [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92035186 "Brief History: The Smallest National Park"] by Robert Smith, "All Things Considered", 30 June 2008. Retrieved 1 July 2008.