Famous Ankles

Thaddeus Kosciuszko (lots of spellings of his name as you might expect) was a Polish hero of the American Revolutionary War, and on East 65th Street there’s the site of a foundation named after him.  It’s a Polish-American group that primarily works to promote educational and artistic exchange between the US and Poland.  I’ve heard that they have a library or museum inside, but wasn’t able to find out when I went by there.

There are two plaques next to the door.  The first gives the briefest of histories of the Revolutionary War hero.

The fact that he oversaw the fortifications of West Point is a huge plus for the man as it was the bulwark against the British drive to break the revolution into isolated pockets.  The quote from Jefferson is about as fine a testament to a patriot as you can find.  It reads “He is as pure a son of liberty as I have ever known, and of that liberty which is to go to all, and not to the few and rich alone.”

The second plaque is simply a naming of the foundation and gives the goal of the foundation:  An American Center for Polish Culture.

I’ve actually had a “nodding acquaintance” with Koscuisko for a long, long time.  When I lived in Washington DC, I found that he was one of the five statues located in Lafayette Park.  He was the only one I wasn’t familiar with at the time and I went out of my way over the years to find out a little more about the man.

-H

This entry was posted on February 7, 2008 at 7:17 pm and is filed under Manhattan, Upper East Side, Wanderings. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.