A number of outstanding patriots, pioneers, and other notables of the Jewish faith who made important contributions to the history and freedom of America during the Colonial and Revolutionary period were interred here, and for this reason, in 1959, by an act of Congress, the burial ground was designated as a unit of the Independence National Historical Park, while continuing to be maintained by the sponsoring Congregation Mikveh Israel.

Mikveh Israel Cemetery was originally a private burial ground for the family of Nathan Levy.

Two years later, Nathan Levy secured a larger plot from the Penn family at the present location of Mikveh Israel Cemetery.

In 1791, the Congregation appointed trustees for the burial ground, and in 1793, the Levy family recognized the right of the Congregatin Mikveh Israel to the Spruce Street Cemetery.

However the dissensions among the descendants of the buried still disputed the right of ownership, until April 14, 1828, when the Legislature passed an act giving the burial ground to the Jews of Philadelphia, with the names of the trustees affixed to the petition.