I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1917 

To establish the Centennial Historic District in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 2, 2009 

Mr. FATTAH introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To establish the Centennial Historic District in Philadelphia, 

Pennsylvania, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Centennial Historic 

5 District Authorization Act of 2009’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) The Centennial Historic District in the 

9 Commonwealth of Pennsylvania was the site of an 


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1 international exhibition to celebrate the Centennial 

2 of the United States in 1876. 

3 (2) On March 3, 1871, an Act of Congress cre4 ated the United States Centennial Commission and 

5 provided that an Exhibition of American and foreign 

6 arts, products, and manufactures be held in Phila7 delphia in 1876. 

8 (3) Held only 11 years after the end of the Civil 

9 War, the Centennial Exhibition was a both a na10 tional celebration of unity and a recognition by the 

11 world community that the United States was emerg12 ing as the leading nation in the world. 

13 (4) The Centennial Exhibition displayed 60,000 

14 exhibits from more than 28 countries around the 

15 world in 240 buildings and hosted nearly 10 million 

16 visitors, estimated to be nearly 25 percent of the 

17 population of the United States at the time. It was 

18 the first World’s Fair to be held in the United 

19 States. 

20 (5) The Exhibition became the center of cul21 tural, technological, economic and geopolitical devel22 opment in the United States by demonstrating 

23 groundbreaking innovations, including root beer, the 

24 telephone, kindergarten, the typewriter, the phono25 graph, and the monorail. 


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1 (6) More than 100 American companies who 

2 participated in the Centennial Exhibition are still in 

3 business today, including Bausch and Lomb, John 

4 Deere, Campbell’s, Heinz, and Wyeth. 

5 (7) The Centennial Historic District is located 

6 in Fairmount Park, which is listed on the National 

7 Register of Historic Places. 

8 (8) Memorial Hall, a centerpiece of the Centen9 nial celebration, is a National Historic Landmark 

10 and is being renovated to join other cultural institu11 tions as an anchor for the Centennial Historic Dis12 trict. 

13 (9) The Centennial Historic District will com14 memorate the historic significance of the Centennial 

15 celebration in our Nation’s history. 

16 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

17 In this Act: 

18 (1) HISTORIC DISTRICT.—The term ‘‘historic 

19 district’’ means the Centennial Historic District es20 tablished by section 4. 

21 (2) MANAGEMENT PLAN.—The term ‘‘manage22 ment plan’’ means the management plan described 

23 in section 5(b). 

24 (3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ 

25 means— 


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1 (A) the Secretary of the Interior; or 

2 (B) the head of any Federal agency to 

3 which funds are appropriated to carry out this 

4 Act. 

5 SEC. 4. CENTENNIAL HISTORIC DISTRICT. 

6 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established the Cen7 tennial Historic District in the city of Philadelphia, Penn8 sylvania. 

9 (b) BOUNDARIES.—The boundaries of the historic 

10 district shall be as depicted on the map titled ‘‘Fairmount 

11 Park’s Proposed Centennial Authorization Boundary’’, 

12 numbered A, and dated December 2007. The map shall 

13 be on file and available for public inspection in the appro14 priate offices of the National Park Service. 

15 SEC. 5. ADMINISTRATION OF CENTENNIAL HISTORIC DIS16 TRICT. 

17 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may make grants 

18 to, and enter into cooperative agreements with, any State 

19 or local government agencies, any nonprofit entities des20 ignated by the Secretary to operate the historic district, 

21 or any leaseholders for— 

22 (1) the preparation of the management plan; 

23 and 

24 (2) the implementation of projects approved by 

25 the Secretary under the management plan. 


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1 (b) MANAGEMENT PLAN.— 

2 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall prepare 

3 a plan for the development of historic, architectural, 

4 natural, cultural, recreational, and interpretive re5 sources within the historic district. 

6 (2) REQUIREMENTS.—The management plan 

7 shall include— 

8 (A) an evaluation of— 

9 (i) the condition of historic and archi10 tectural resources in the historic district; 

11 and 

12 (ii) the environmental conditions in 

13 the historic district; and 

14 (B) recommendations for— 

15 (i) rehabilitating, reconstructing, and 

16 adaptively reusing the historic and archi17 tectural resources evaluated under sub18 paragraph (A)(i); 

19 (ii) preserving viewsheds, focal points, 

20 and streetscapes in the historic district; 

21 (iii) establishing gateways to the his22 toric district; 

23 (iv) establishing and maintaining 

24 parks and public spaces in the historic dis25 trict; 


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1 (v) developing public parking areas in 

2 the historic district; 

3 (vi) improving pedestrian and vehic4 ular circulation in the historic district; and 

5 (vii) improving security in the historic 

6 district. 

7 (3) RESTORATION, MAINTENANCE, AND INTER8 PRETATION.— 

9 (A) COOPERATIVE AGREEMENTS.—For 

10 projects recommended in the management plan, 

11 the Secretary may enter into cooperative agree12 ments with the city of Philadelphia, agents of 

13 the city, and designated partners to— 

14 (i) provide technical assistance with 

15 respect to the preservation and interpreta16 tion of properties within the historic dis17 trict; and 

18 (ii) mark, improve, restore, and pro19 vide interpretation of properties within the 

20 historic district. 

21 (B) CONTENTS.—A cooperative agreement 

22 under subparagraph (A) shall ensure that— 

23 (i) the Secretary has a right of access 

24 at reasonable times to public portions of 


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1 the historic district for interpretive and 

2 other purposes; and 

3 (ii) no change or alteration shall be 

4 made in the property except with the 

5 agreement of the property owner, the Sec6 retary, and any Federal agency that may 

7 have regulatory jurisdiction over the prop8 erty. 

9 (c) CAPITAL PROJECTS.— 

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall, to the 

11 extent funds are available, make grants for capital 

12 improvements in the historic district. 

13 (2) APPLICATION.—To be eligible for a grant 

14 under this subsection, an entity shall submit to the 

15 Secretary an application that includes information 

16 concerning how the proposed capital project will im17 prove the historic district. 

18 (3) CONSIDERATIONS.—In making grants 

19 under this subsection, the Secretary shall— 

20 (A) consider the cost and benefit of the 

21 proposed capital project; and 

22 (B) give priority to proposed capital 

23 projects— 

24 (i) providing gateways to, and signage 

25 for, the historic district; 


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1 (ii) improving historical monuments in 

2 the historic district; 

3 (iii) maintaining public parks and 

4 spaces in the historic district; 

5 (iv) establishing a trail in the historic 

6 district; 

7 (v) maintaining and improving the 

8 lake in the historic district; 

9 (vi) improving the streetscape, includ10 ing lighting, of the Girard Gateway; 

11 (vii) improving pedestrian and vehic12 ular traffic circulation and parking at the 

13 western end of the Centennial Exhibition 

14 grounds; or 

15 (viii) restoring Memorial Hall. 

16 (4) MATCHING FUNDS.—To be eligible for a 

17 grant under this subsection, the recipient shall pro18 vide matching, non-Federal funds in an amount 

19 equal to not less than 20 percent of the total 

20 amount of the grant. 

21 SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

22 There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

23 this Act $45,000,000 for fiscal years 2010 through 2014. 

24 Of the amount appropriated pursuant to this section, the 


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1 Secretary shall obligate not more than 12 percent for plan2 ning and technical assistance. 

Æ 


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