Credit: Courtesy of Charles Hardy, III
After leading an unsuccessful Polish Insurrection in the 1790s, and then spending two years in a Russian prison, Thaddeus Kosciuszko returned to Philadelphia in August, 1797 to thunderous cannon salutes and cheering crowds. There, Kosciuszko instructed his secretary to find him "a dwelling as small, as remote, and as cheap" as possible, which led him to Mrs. Ann Relf's boarding house at Third and Pine Streets. Kosciuszko roomed on the second floor for eight months, rarely venturing outside, for he still suffered from war wounds received during the Polish Insurrection. Restored by the National Park Service, the building was dedicated as a national memorial on October 21, 1972.
