Franklin Square (Philadelphia)

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Franklin Square
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
The Fountain is at the center of the park; the carousel can be seen on the left (2013)

Location	Race, N. 6th and N. 7th Streets Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Coordinates	39°57′19.83″N 75°9′2.84″WCoordinates: 39°57′19.83″N 75°9′2.84″W
Area	7.5 acres (3.0 ha)
Built	1683
Architect	Thomas Holme
Website	http://historicphiladelphia.org/franklin-square/what-to-see/
MPS	Four Public Squares of Philadelphia TR
NRHP Reference #	81000556
Added to NRHP	September 14, 1981

Franklin Square is one of the five original open-space parks planned by William Penn when he laid out the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1682. It is located in the Center City area, between North 6th and 7th Streets, and between Race Street and the Vine Street Expressway (I-676).

Franklin Square was founded by William Penn for settlers to enjoy the surrounding nature. The park was slow to develop because it was a marshy land. Originally, the park was a place for settlers to meditate and set a virtuous behavior to set a proper example. The Park was supposed to be landscaped to have settlers understand the value of nature. In the 1920s, the park was abandoned and was a place for homeless which was known as "skid row". In 2003, the park was renovated by adding commercials and houses to restore the park's originality. Tourists are now able to enjoy the renovated park, family-friendly attractions, and the surrounding nature. Franklin Square is restored back to its original plan how William Penn wanted the park to be used.

It is now managed by Historic Philadelphia, a non-profit organization.

Franklin Square was added to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 1981.

History[edit | edit source]

Origins

Originally called North East Publick Square, Franklin Square was renamed in 1825 to honor Benjamin Franklin, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. William Penn founded the square to establish a commercial center for settlers. He wanted settlers to have a space that was well-ordered to ensure they would set the proper example for fellow settlers. William Penn wanted the space to set an example to promote social discipline. However, William Penn did not have the proper warrant to have jurisdiction over the squares. When more settlers came to the land, the square was subject to neglection. In its early years, the square was an open common used for grazing animals, storing gunpowder during the American Revolution and drilling soldiers during the War of 1812.In 1741, Governor Thomas Penn leased the square to German Reformed Church. From 1741 to 1835, a portion of the Square was used as a cemetery by the German Reformed Church; some of the graves still remain, marked by a plaque. This plan was protested by Philadelphians who felt the cemetery was against William Penn's plan and wanted to ensure the square was used for nature purposes. Even though there were protests, the square was continually used for burial purposes. During the 1820s, William Rush and Thomas Birch redesigned the park to depict nature by designing the park to be symmetrical to walkway and plant locations. This was to ensure the park would be orderly for tourists while ensuring the vision that William Penn had.

Decline

Although Franklin Square was a popular place for tourist, the square began to decline because of neglection from the government. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, Franklin Square was at the center of a fashionable residential neighborhood; but beginning in the 1920s, a series of events corresponding with the rise of the automobile began the decline of the Square and its surrounding neighborhood. The construction of the Ben Franklin Bridge, from 1922–26, leveled blocks of row homes, shops and other structures; the Bridge begins at the Square’s eastern boundary, 6th Street. The steady flow of cars over the bridge made Franklin Square’s northern boundary, Vine Street, into one of the city’s busiest thoroughfares, effectively cutting off pedestrian access on two of the Square's sides. Franklin Square had declined significantly in pedestrians and there was no reason for tourists to visit the park after the establishment of Independence Mall. The surrounding area that had the commercial buildings was being abandoned so there was no reason for tourists to explore Franklin Square. During the depression, the square became a place for hoboes, and unemployed. Although there were raids to prevent this, the park attracted people in the surrounding areas who lost everything when settlers migrated to other places. This led to the encampment of homeless and the depletion of Franklin Square.

Abandonment

Franklin Square was abandoned by tourists and the government because there was a lack of pedestrians. The neighborhood’s residential character was further eroded when the Federal government established Independence Mall. The government acquired private land around the Square in the 1950s and 1960s and demolished blocks of homes and other buildings. The construction of the Vine Street Expressway in the late 1980s exacerbated the problem. The park was effectively abandoned and there was broken lights, trees that were disarray, and the fountain was eroded. The park had no attractions and people did not have any reasons to visit the park since there was nothing to draw people to the park. The square was used as an encampment for homeless because the park had no pedestrians and was a place for drug dealers. Teachers from surrounding areas had to clean up the playground so the kids could still play on the playground set.The park was severely neglected to the point where people could not recognize the park and nobody wanted to visit the park anymore. Writer Jane Jacobs labeled Franklin Square "the city's Skid Row park," a description that fit for decades. Franklin Square became the least-used of Penn’s original five squares and served mainly as an encampment for the homeless.

Renovation

From 2003 to 2006, the park was refurbished by Historic Philadelphia, Inc. — a non-profit company responsible for the Betsy Ross House and several other historical sites — in a $5.5 million project funded primarily by a grant from the state of Pennsylvania. Historic Philadelphia restored the fountain, cleaned up the park and maintained the square back to its originality. It was reopened and rededicated on July 31, 2006, in Franklin’s tercentenary year. The revitalized park contains a number of family-friendly attractions such as gold course, playground, and gardens. The park was renovated for tourists to enjoy the beauty of nature. Historic Philadelphia wanted to restore the park to how William Penn's original plan of settlers to be surrounded by the beautiful nature.

Recently, a lot of re-development activities around the Franklin Square area has included new housing, commercial, and office spaces, and in the Northern Liberties neighborhood to its north and the redevelopment of the shuttered Metropolitan Hospital as a condominium project. As a result, pedestrian traffic has increased dramatically and are able to enjoy the nature of the park. Isamu Noguchi's Bolt of Lightning... A Memorial to Benjamin Frankin (1984)

In 2009, the Delaware River Port Authority (DRPA) announced that it was commissioning a design plan for renovating, modernizing and reopening the PATCO Speedline's underground Franklin Square Station, closed since 1979. As a result of ongoing capital projects scheduled to continue through 2016, PATCO stated in 2014: "We do not presently have the capacity or capital resources to evaluate the feasibility of reopening the Franklin Square Station."

Attractions/ Events [edit | edit source]

The Parx [sic] Liberty Carousel is located just northwest of the Fountain. Many of the carousel's animals recall Philadelphia's historical heritage.
Philly Mini Golf, located north of the Fountain, is the only miniature golf course in Center City. The holes are based on some of the city's best-known tourist spots, such as Elfreth's Alley, the Ben Franklin Bridge, and the Liberty Bell.
Two playgrounds, one for younger children, and the other for older ones are located in the park's southeast quadrant.
A food vendor, SquareBurger, is located near the Fountain.

Bolt of Lightning[edit | edit source]

Local legend maintains that Franklin Square is where Benjamin Franklin conducted his famous, though misunderstood, "kite and key" experiment in 1752. However, it would have been unlikely for Franklin to fly a kite near a cemetery, and not all that far from possible observers from town. The legend is memorialized in Isamu Noguchi’s Bolt of Lightning... A Memorial to Benjamin Franklin, a 101-foot tall, 60-ton stainless steel sculpture commissioned by the Fairmount Park Art Association and costing $850,000. It was erected in 1984 in Monument Plaza at the base of the Ben Franklin Bridge, facing the Square across 6th Street, a location personally chosen by Noguchi.

Noguchi had first proposed the sculpture in 1933, but the idea was rejected then as being too radical. The sculpture, which depicts a kite, a bolt of lightning and a key, is not universally admired. In 1984, the Philadelphia Inquirer said about it:

Columnist Larry Mendte called it "the ugliest piece of art in Philadelphia" and "a bizarre eyesore". The Liberty Carousel

Fountain

The Franklin Square Fountain was built in 1838 and the source of the water is from Schyulkill River. The fence and stone work of the fountain are from the original layout. The fountain was the most important piece during the 19th Century. During the 1950s, the park along with the fountain was abandoned and was turned off.The fountain gets refurbished and restored to its originality during the restoration period. The fountain's original stone and fence work were carefully restored and preserved.Now tourists can enjoy the fountain being the centerpiece and the surrounding nature.

Living Flame Memorial

In 1976, the Living Flame memorial was erected to honor the city's fallen police officers and firefighters. The memorial is centered by Reginald E. Beauchamp. The memorial has a fund called Fallen Heroes Support Fund to support the fallen police officers and firefighters. In 2011, there was a competition to create a new design for the memorial.

References[edit | edit source]

Notes[edit | edit source]

Jump up ^
Jump up ^ "Visitor Information" on the Historic Philadelphia website
Jump up ^
Jump up ^
^ Jump up to: ^a ^b ^c Lapp, Alison. "Forgotten Philly square gets a facelift — and carousel" USA Today (August 7, 2006)
Jump up ^
Jump up ^
Jump up ^ Museum of Science, Boston. "Franklin's Kite". Accessed 5 November 2008.
Jump up ^ Descriptive marker on the site
^ Jump up to: ^a ^b ^c Mendte, Larry. "The Ugliest Piece of Art in Philadelphia" Philadelphia (June 13, 2010)
Jump up ^ "Lightning Bolt" on the USHistory.org website
^ Jump up to: ^a ^b "Bolt of Lightning … A Memorial to Benjamin Franklin" on the Visit Philly website
Jump up ^ "Franklin Square:History" on the Historic Philadelphia website
^ Jump up to: ^a ^b ^c "Franklin Square: What To See" on the Historic Philadelphia website

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