Clark Park
Encyclopedia
Clark Park is a municipal park in the Spruce Hill
section of West Philadelphia
in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
. Its 9.1 acres (3.7 ha) are bordered by 43rd and 45th streets, and by Baltimore and Woodland Avenues.
The park was established in 1895 on land donated to the city by banker and West Philadelphia developer Clarence Howard Clark
, and was known in its early decades as "Clarence H. Clark Park".
Today, the park has a basketball court, playground, an open field, and many paths. It holds a life-sized 1890 sculpture of Charles Dickens
by Francis Edwin Elwell
, one of just two known statues of the author. It is home to the Shakespeare in Clark Park theatre company.
The park also hosts Philadelphia's largest year-round farmers' market
, which runs once or twice a week, depending on the season.
, a small portion of the land that would later become Clark Park was occupied by the southern tip of the 16-acre grounds of Satterlee Hospital
, one of the largest Union Army
hospitals. Some 60,000 Union soldiers were treated at the medical facility, which was torn down after the war.
A prominent feature of the park is its "bowl", once a mill pond
that powered a paper mill and another mill to the south. An ice house sat near its southern tip. The pond was fed by Mill Creek, which ran through a ravine between 42nd and 43rd Streets, was dammed above Woodland Avenue, and emptied into the Schuylkill River
.
The mills disappeared in the 1860s. As the area shifted from farmland to residential over the next decades, the dam was removed, the creek was buried to make it easier to build houses, and the pond dried up.
In the 1890s, the land was used as a public dump.
In 1894, a proposal to take the land between 43rd and 44th streets and Baltimore and Chester Avenues for a municipal park was advanced to the City Council. Most of that land was owned by Clarence Howard Clark, a prominent banker and developer who lived a few blocks to the north. The city, which had laid out the streets surrounding the land, had issued a tax assessment of $16,925.25 ($ today) for the work. Clark proposed a deal: he would donate the land for use as a park, and the city would forgive the assessment. Subsequently, a proposed ordinance was sent on April 19 by the council to the Committee on Municipal Government, which on May 10 recommended its passage in this form:
The ordinance was passed on June 8, 1894, and the deal was done. In Clark's deed, he restricted the land to be used solely as a park, and he said he wanted the park dedicated to children.
The first portion of the park was dedicated on January 18, 1895. In November 1898, the area south of Chestnut was added, giving the park today's 9.1-acre form.
The Dickens sculpture shows the 19th-century author and one of his characters, Nell Trent of the novel The Old Curiosity Shop
. The work was originally commissioned in 1890 by Stilson Hutchins
, who then pulled out of the deal. The New York City artist continued on with the sculpture, which won a gold medal in 1891 from the Art Club of Philadelphia
and two gold medals at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition
. In 1896, the Fairmount Park Art Association
(FPAA) bought the sculpture for $7,500 ($ today); it was placed in Clark Park the following year. By 1908, the association was receiving, and rebuffing, requests to move it to a more prominent place in the city.
It was vandalized in November 1989, but restored.
In 1915, D. A. Conan, of 1345 Arch St., won a $5,000 contract to lay 3,000 yards of granolithic
walkways in the park.
In June 1916, a large stone from Devil's Den
at Gettysburg Battlefield
was set up in the park to recall the Union soldiers treated on the site and the "services of the patriotic men and women" who cared for them. The stone sits near the park's northwestern corner, which was once the southern tip of the hospital grounds.
In June 1961, the city spent $40,000 ($ today) on park improvements, adding a basketball court, shuffleboard court, checker tables, a tot-lot, two drinking fountains and general landscaping.
The Friends of Clark Park (FOCP), a nonprofit volunteer organization, was founded in 1973 to help maintain the park. Yet the 1970s and ‘80s saw park maintenance steadily decline; no major capital projects were completed except for normal repairs and the installation of playground equipment in the early 1980s. In November 1989, the figure of Little Nell was torn from its pedestal and thrown face-down by vandals. FOCP raised money to do the repairs, which were overseen by the Fairmount Park Art Association, and requested additional lighting to illuminate the sculpture.
By 1998, "Clark Park had long been neglected and desperately needed to be revitalized. Trash and broken glass surrounded the Dickens statue and littered the park. More than once, the neighbors fought the city just to get the grass cut. Lacking lights, the park was off-limits after dusk except to drug dealers and their prey."
That same year, regional farmers began offering produce and other products at the Clark Park Farmers' Market.
organization agreed to raise private maintenance funds to supplement municipal efforts. The agreement launched an annual “Party for the Park” fundraiser, which helps underwrite the cost of landscape maintenance
and fund a small, but growing maintenance endowment. Between 2000 and 2006, the trio raised more than $300,000.
The partners sought and received $55,000 from the William Penn Foundation
to develop a master plan for Clark Park, which was delivered in 2001 after a nine-month effort by community-based steering committee and landscape architects. Among its fruits: a comprehensive assessment of the park’s 305 trees by the Morris Arboretum
; two new playgrounds, one of which was built with private
funds; and plans to rebuild the basketball court. The master plan also calls for a central plaza where chess players now gather around the flagpole, improvements to the Dickens and Gettysburg Stone areas, and sidewalk and lighting renovations. The plan envisions replacing the parking lot next to the basketball court with green space for the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia
, which leases the space and the adjacent Rosenberger Hall.
Major renovations to the northern section of the park, dubbed Park A, began September 7, 2010, and were slated to be wrapped up in November. Among the things to be improved are lighting, green areas, paved paths, and drainage. The work was completed on June 16, 2011.
devices set up by the U.S. Department of Agriculture that allow customers to pay with credit and debit cards and food stamps.
On February 7, fans of Charles Dickens, led by the Philadelphia branch of the Dickens Fellowship
and Friends of Clark Park, meet at the statue to celebrate the writer's birthday.
Spruce Hill, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Spruce Hill is a neighborhood in the West Philadelphia section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is between 40th and 46th streets, and it stretches from Market Street south to Woodland Avenue. It has a population of over 16,000. It was built as a streetcar suburb for Center City between 1850 and...
section of West Philadelphia
West Philadelphia
West Philadelphia, nicknamed West Philly, is a section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Though there is no official definition of its boundaries, it is generally considered to reach from the western shore of the Schuylkill River, to City Line Avenue to the northwest, Cobbs Creek to the southwest, and...
in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
. Its 9.1 acres (3.7 ha) are bordered by 43rd and 45th streets, and by Baltimore and Woodland Avenues.
The park was established in 1895 on land donated to the city by banker and West Philadelphia developer Clarence Howard Clark
Clarence Howard Clark
Clarence Howard Clark, Sr. was an influential banker, land owner, and developer in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1916, ten years after his death, the New York Times called him one of the city's "most prominent men of his day."...
, and was known in its early decades as "Clarence H. Clark Park".
Today, the park has a basketball court, playground, an open field, and many paths. It holds a life-sized 1890 sculpture of Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
by Francis Edwin Elwell
Francis Edwin Elwell
Francis Edwin Elwell was an American sculptor.-Life:Born in Concord, Massachusetts, Elwell was orphaned at age four and, according to various sources, was adopted by author Louisa May Alcott or grew up under the care of his grandfather, a Mr...
, one of just two known statues of the author. It is home to the Shakespeare in Clark Park theatre company.
The park also hosts Philadelphia's largest year-round farmers' market
Farmers' market
A farmers' market consists of individual vendors—mostly farmers—who set up booths, tables or stands, outdoors or indoors, to sell produce, meat products, fruits and sometimes prepared foods and beverages...
, which runs once or twice a week, depending on the season.
19th century
During the American Civil WarAmerican Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, a small portion of the land that would later become Clark Park was occupied by the southern tip of the 16-acre grounds of Satterlee Hospital
Satterlee Hospital
Satterlee U.S.A. General Hospital, which existed from 1862 to 1865 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was one of the largest Union Army hospitals of the Civil War....
, one of the largest Union Army
Union Army
The Union Army was the land force that fought for the Union during the American Civil War. It was also known as the Federal Army, the U.S. Army, the Northern Army and the National Army...
hospitals. Some 60,000 Union soldiers were treated at the medical facility, which was torn down after the war.
A prominent feature of the park is its "bowl", once a mill pond
Mill pond
A mill pond is any body of water used as a reservoir for a water-powered mill. Mill ponds were often created through the construction of a mill dam across a waterway. In many places, the common proper name Mill Pond name has remained even though the mill has long since gone...
that powered a paper mill and another mill to the south. An ice house sat near its southern tip. The pond was fed by Mill Creek, which ran through a ravine between 42nd and 43rd Streets, was dammed above Woodland Avenue, and emptied into the Schuylkill River
Schuylkill River
The Schuylkill River is a river in Pennsylvania. It is a designated Pennsylvania Scenic River.The river is about long. Its watershed of about lies entirely within the state of Pennsylvania. The source of its eastern branch is in the Appalachian Mountains at Tuscarora Springs, near Tamaqua in...
.
The mills disappeared in the 1860s. As the area shifted from farmland to residential over the next decades, the dam was removed, the creek was buried to make it easier to build houses, and the pond dried up.
In the 1890s, the land was used as a public dump.
In 1894, a proposal to take the land between 43rd and 44th streets and Baltimore and Chester Avenues for a municipal park was advanced to the City Council. Most of that land was owned by Clarence Howard Clark, a prominent banker and developer who lived a few blocks to the north. The city, which had laid out the streets surrounding the land, had issued a tax assessment of $16,925.25 ($ today) for the work. Clark proposed a deal: he would donate the land for use as a park, and the city would forgive the assessment. Subsequently, a proposed ordinance was sent on April 19 by the council to the Committee on Municipal Government, which on May 10 recommended its passage in this form:
The ordinance was passed on June 8, 1894, and the deal was done. In Clark's deed, he restricted the land to be used solely as a park, and he said he wanted the park dedicated to children.
The first portion of the park was dedicated on January 18, 1895. In November 1898, the area south of Chestnut was added, giving the park today's 9.1-acre form.
Dickens and Little Nell
The Old Curiosity Shop
The Old Curiosity Shop is a novel by Charles Dickens. The plot follows the life of Nell Trent and her grandfather, both residents of The Old Curiosity Shop in London....
. The work was originally commissioned in 1890 by Stilson Hutchins
Stilson Hutchins
Stilson Hutchins was an American newspaper reporter and publisher, best known as founder of the Washington Post.Hutchins was born in Whitefield, Coos County, New Hampshire, on 14 November 1838, the son of Stilson Eastman and Clara Eaton Hutchins...
, who then pulled out of the deal. The New York City artist continued on with the sculpture, which won a gold medal in 1891 from the Art Club of Philadelphia
Art Club of Philadelphia
The Art Club of Philadelphia, often called the Philadelphia Art Club, was a club in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, founded on February 7, 1887, to advance the arts...
and two gold medals at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition
World's Columbian Exposition
The World's Columbian Exposition was a World's Fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. Chicago bested New York City; Washington, D.C.; and St...
. In 1896, the Fairmount Park Art Association
Fairmount Park Art Association
The Fairmount Park Art Association was founded in 1872 in Philadelphia to provide public art in Fairmount Park. The Association now maintains and provides information to the public for outdoor sculpture throughout Philadelphia....
(FPAA) bought the sculpture for $7,500 ($ today); it was placed in Clark Park the following year. By 1908, the association was receiving, and rebuffing, requests to move it to a more prominent place in the city.
It was vandalized in November 1989, but restored.
20th century
Granolithic
Granolithic screed, also known as granolithic paving and granolithic concrete, is a type of construction material composed of cement and fine aggregate such as granite or other hard-wearing rock. It is generally used as flooring, or as paving...
walkways in the park.
In June 1916, a large stone from Devil's Den
Devil's Den
Devils Den is a boulder-strewn Gettysburg Battlefield hill used by artillery and infantry during the 1863 Battle of Gettysburg, Second Day...
at Gettysburg Battlefield
Gettysburg Battlefield
The Gettysburg Battlefield is the area of the July 1–3, 1863, military engagements of the Battle of Gettysburg within and around the borough of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Locations of military engagements extend from the 4 acre site of the first shot & at on the west of the borough, to East...
was set up in the park to recall the Union soldiers treated on the site and the "services of the patriotic men and women" who cared for them. The stone sits near the park's northwestern corner, which was once the southern tip of the hospital grounds.
In June 1961, the city spent $40,000 ($ today) on park improvements, adding a basketball court, shuffleboard court, checker tables, a tot-lot, two drinking fountains and general landscaping.
The Friends of Clark Park (FOCP), a nonprofit volunteer organization, was founded in 1973 to help maintain the park. Yet the 1970s and ‘80s saw park maintenance steadily decline; no major capital projects were completed except for normal repairs and the installation of playground equipment in the early 1980s. In November 1989, the figure of Little Nell was torn from its pedestal and thrown face-down by vandals. FOCP raised money to do the repairs, which were overseen by the Fairmount Park Art Association, and requested additional lighting to illuminate the sculpture.
By 1998, "Clark Park had long been neglected and desperately needed to be revitalized. Trash and broken glass surrounded the Dickens statue and littered the park. More than once, the neighbors fought the city just to get the grass cut. Lacking lights, the park was off-limits after dusk except to drug dealers and their prey."
That same year, regional farmers began offering produce and other products at the Clark Park Farmers' Market.
21st century
In 2000, FOCP, the Recreation department, and the non-profit University City DistrictUniversity City District
The University City District is a non-profit 5013 special services district created in 1997 to improve the University City section of West Philadelphia, Pennsylvania....
organization agreed to raise private maintenance funds to supplement municipal efforts. The agreement launched an annual “Party for the Park” fundraiser, which helps underwrite the cost of landscape maintenance
Landscape maintenance
Landscape maintenance is the art and vocation of keeping a landscape healthy, clean, safe and attractive, typically in a garden, yard, park, Institutional setting or estate...
and fund a small, but growing maintenance endowment. Between 2000 and 2006, the trio raised more than $300,000.
The partners sought and received $55,000 from the William Penn Foundation
William Penn Foundation
The William Penn Foundation is a grant-making foundation established in 1945 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, by businessman Otto Haas and his wife Phoebe....
to develop a master plan for Clark Park, which was delivered in 2001 after a nine-month effort by community-based steering committee and landscape architects. Among its fruits: a comprehensive assessment of the park’s 305 trees by the Morris Arboretum
Morris Arboretum
The Morris Arboretum of the University of Pennsylvania is the official arboretum of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is located at 100 East Northwestern Avenue, Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania...
; two new playgrounds, one of which was built with private
funds; and plans to rebuild the basketball court. The master plan also calls for a central plaza where chess players now gather around the flagpole, improvements to the Dickens and Gettysburg Stone areas, and sidewalk and lighting renovations. The plan envisions replacing the parking lot next to the basketball court with green space for the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia
University of the Sciences in Philadelphia
University of the Sciences , officially known as University of the Sciences in Philadelphia , located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, offers bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees in pharmacy and a variety of other health-related disciplines.-History:The history of the University of the Sciences...
, which leases the space and the adjacent Rosenberger Hall.
Major renovations to the northern section of the park, dubbed Park A, began September 7, 2010, and were slated to be wrapped up in November. Among the things to be improved are lighting, green areas, paved paths, and drainage. The work was completed on June 16, 2011.
Park events
The farmers’ market operates at 43rd Street and Baltimore, offering produce and other products from regional farms once or twice a week. From May through November, the market is open on Thursdays (3 to 7 p.m.) and Saturdays (10 a.m. to 2 p.m.); the rest of the year, on Saturdays (10 a.m. to 1 p.m.). The market is run by a pair of non-profit organizations: The Food Trust and University City District. Since 2008, the vendors have been equipped with wireless Electronic Benefit TransferElectronic Benefit Transfer
Electronic Benefit Transfer is an electronic system in the United States that allows state governments to provide financial and material benefits via a plastic debit card. Common benefits provided via EBT are typically sorted into two general categories: Food and cash benefits...
devices set up by the U.S. Department of Agriculture that allow customers to pay with credit and debit cards and food stamps.
On February 7, fans of Charles Dickens, led by the Philadelphia branch of the Dickens Fellowship
Dickens Fellowship
The Dickens Fellowship was founded in 1902, and is an international association of people from all walks of life who share an interest in the life and works of Victorian era novelist Charles Dickens....
and Friends of Clark Park, meet at the statue to celebrate the writer's birthday.
See also
- University CityUniversity City, Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaUniversity City is the easternmost region of West Philadelphia.The University of Pennsylvania has long been the dominant institution in the area and was instrumental in coining the name University City as part of a 1950s urban-renewal effort...
- USIPUniversity of the Sciences in PhiladelphiaUniversity of the Sciences , officially known as University of the Sciences in Philadelphia , located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, offers bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees in pharmacy and a variety of other health-related disciplines.-History:The history of the University of the Sciences...
External links
- Friends of Clark Park, a non-profit corporation and volunteer organization founded in 1973 to help maintain and improve the neighborhood's largest public green space.
- Historic Photographs of Clark Park at PhillyHistory.org
- Shakespeare in Clark Page
- Clark Park Farmers' Market
- "A LARP In The Park: Swordsmen and sorcery in West Philadelphia", 34th Street magazine, March 25, 2010. Article about LARPing at Clark Park.
- University and Urban Revival by Judith Rodin, University of Pennsylvania (2007), pp. 72-76. Describes efforts by UCD and FOCP to revive the park.
- 1912 photo of Dickens statue showing all young trees in Clark Park.
Historical maps
- 1843 map showing dammed Mill Creek and mill pond on future parkland
- 1872 map showing course of Mill Creek through future parkland
- 1892 map showing future parkland owned by Clarence H. Clark
- 1909 map showing Clarence H. Clark Park and its paths
SEPTA Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation AuthorityThe Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority is a metropolitan transportation authority that operates various forms of public transit—bus, subway and elevated rail, commuter rail, light rail, and electric trolley bus—that serve 3.9 million people in and around Philadelphia,...
Subway–Surface Trolley LinesRoute 11 SEPTA Route 11SEPTA's Subway-Surface Trolley Route 11 is a trolley line operated by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority that connects the 13th Street in downtown Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Darby Transportation Center in Darby, Pennsylvania...Route 13 SEPTA Route 13SEPTA's Subway-Surface Trolley Route 13 is a trolley line operated by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority that connects the 13th Street in downtown Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to the Yeadon Loop station in Yeadon, Pennsylvania, although limited service is available to the Darby...Route 34 SEPTA Route 34SEPTA's Subway-Surface Trolley Route 34, also called the Baltimore Avenue-Subway Line, is a trolley line operated by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority that connects the 13th Street in downtown Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to the Angora Loop station in the Angora neighborhood of...Route 36 SEPTA Route 36SEPTA's Subway-Surface Trolley Route 36 is a trolley line operated by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority that connects the 13th Street in downtown Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to the Eastwick Loop station in Eastwick section of Southwest Philadelphia, although limited service...
