16 U.S.C. § 407m — Establishment; acquisition of land; property involved

For the purpose of preserving for the benefit of the American people as a national historical park certain historical structures and properties of outstanding national significance located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and associated with the American Revolution and the founding and growth of the United States, the Secretary of the Interior, following the consummation of agreements with the city of Philadelphia and the Carpenters’ Company of Philadelphia as prescribed in [section 407n of this title](https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title16-section407n&num=0&edition=prelim), is authorized to acquire by donation or with donated funds, or to acquire by purchase, any property, real or personal, within the following-described areas, such park to be fully established as the “Independence National Historical Park” when, in the opinion of the Secretary, title to sufficient of the lands and interests in lands within such areas, shall be vested in the United States: Provided, That the park shall not be established until title to the First United States Bank property, the Merchants’ Exchange property, the Bishop White house, the Dilworth-Todd-Moylan house, and the site of the Benjamin Franklin house, together with two-thirds of the remaining lands and interests in lands within the following-described areas, shall have been vested in the United States: **(a)** An area of three city blocks bounded generally by Walnut Street, Fifth Street, Chestnut Street, and Second Street, but excluding the new United States customhouse at the southeast corner of Second and Chestnut Streets, identified as “project A”, as described in the report of the Philadelphia National Shrines Park Commission, dated December 29, 1947. **(b)** A memorial thoroughfare, or mall, extending generally from the south side of Walnut Street to the north side of Manning Street, identified as part of “project B” in the report of the Commission. The properties identified generally as 269, 271, 273, and 275 South Fifth Street in “project B” in the report of the Commission. **(c)** The site of the residence of Benjamin Franklin, and related grounds, comprising approximately a one-hundred-foot-wide strip, extending southward from Market Street approximately three hundred feet between Third and Fourth Streets, and encompassing a portion of Orianna Street, identified as “project C” in the report of the Commission. **(d)** Certain land and buildings immediately adjacent to Christ Church, situated on the west side of Second Street, and north of Market Street, identified as “project E” in the report of the Commission, and certain land and buildings adjoining “Project E”, being known and numbered as 8, 10, and 12 North Second Street and 201, 203, 205, 207, 209, 211–213, 215, 217, 219, and 221 Market Street: Provided, That the Secretary of the Interior first enter into an agreement with the proprietor or proprietors of said property (Christ Church), said agreement to contain the usual and customary provisions for the protection of the property, assuring its physical maintenance as a national shrine, without any limitation or control over its use for customary church purposes.