Museum of the American Revolution Breaks Ground

Concrete is flowing and things are progressing nicely toward completion of the Museum of the American Revolution in Old City, Philadelphia. Last week, an array of politicians and benefactors gathered beneath a vast party tent beside a very deep hole along South Third Street to celebrate the symbolic groundbreaking and the start of construction on the $119 million project.

The 118,000-square-foot museum, designed by noted architect Robert A.M. Stern, is being built by Intech Construction.

Museum president and chief executive, Michael Quinn, says that construction had been fully funded and the grand opening is set for late 2016 or early 2017.

“We are on schedule with construction,” he said. “The Visitor Center on the site has been completely demolished, and we’re continuing to remove the foundations and are finishing up the archeological work as well.”

Archeology was necessary because the building will be at 3rd and Chestnut, deep in Colonial Philadelphia.

When the deep hole is filled and the $119 million building opens in two years, it will be, officials believe, the nation's first museum to tell the whole story of the American Revolution - from the disgruntled grumbling over British taxes in the 1760s through the desperate days of the Continental Army in the 1770s and on to eventual independence in the 1780s.

To see more on the museum project, check out the museum’s website, webcam, and Tumblr page.