Sidewalk Celebration Heralds Revolutionary War Museum Progress

By Hadas Kuznits

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Officials of the planned Museum of the American Revolution, planned to open at Third and Chestnut Streets in 2016, used some Early American tactics today to drum up support for the project.

There were fireworks, cannon volleys, and a full-dress parade outside a National Park Service building that is slated for demolition to make way for the new museum.

"This was built for the Visitors' Center for Independence Park and opened for the Bicentennial in 1976," museum president Michael Quinn says of the low brick building now occupying the site. "And really, it's impossible to adapt it for any other purpose," he notes.

Museum officials have applied to the city for the demolition permits. If granted as expected, construction will proceed through 2016.

"This museum will tell the entire story of the Revolution," Quinn says. "A visitor to Philadelphia will have a place to go to understand the entire course of the war. And we are very grateful to the National Park Service to be willing to give up ownership of part of Independence Historic Park just for the purpose of this museum."

Quinn says the museum's mission is to reach the millions of Americans who come every year to discover the wellspring of the American nation.