Girard Fountain Park
Encyclopedia
Pocket park
A pocket park, parkette or mini-park is a small park accessible to the general public. In some areas they are called miniparks or vest-pocket parks....
in the Old City
Old City, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Old City is a neighborhood in Center City, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, in the area near e Delaware River where William Penn and the Quakers first settled...
neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
, at 325 Arch Street. It is open to the public during daylight hours and is maintained by the Philadelphia Fire Department
Philadelphia Fire Department
The Philadelphia Fire Department provides firefighting and Emergency Medical Services within the City of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania....
.
The park was created in the mid-1960s after the demolition of four 3- and 4-story commercial buildings that had stood on the northeast corner of 4th and Arch Streets. A firehouse was built on the corner lots, while the lot formerly occupied by 325 Arch was cleared.
The park was improved following the 1976 grant of money from a city-held fund established by banker Stephen Girard
Stephen Girard
Stephen Girard was a French-born, naturalized American, philanthropist and banker. He personally saved the U.S. government from financial collapse during the War of 1812, and became one of the wealthiest men in America, estimated to have been the fourth richest American of all time, based on the...
(1750–1831) to improve areas near the Delaware River
Delaware River
The Delaware River is a major river on the Atlantic coast of the United States.A Dutch expedition led by Henry Hudson in 1609 first mapped the river. The river was christened the South River in the New Netherland colony that followed, in contrast to the North River, as the Hudson River was then...
.
In 1971, a sculpture of Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin
Dr. Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, musician, inventor, satirist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat...
by local sculptor Reginald E. Beauchamp
Reginald E. Beauchamp
Reginald E. Beauchamp was an American sculptor whose works include Penny Franklin , Whispering Bells of Freedom , and a bust of Connie Mack that sits in the Baseball Hall of Fame....
was installed atop the park's front wall. It was made of acrylic and covered with almost 80,000 pennies
Cent (United States coin)
The United States one-cent coin, commonly known as a penny, is a unit of currency equaling one one-hundredth of a United States dollar. The cent's symbol is ¢. Its obverse has featured the profile of President Abraham Lincoln since 1909, the centennial of his birth. From 1959 to 2008, the reverse...
collected from local schoolchildren, and it incorporated a device that delivered a recorded two-minute speech on fire prevention at the push of a button. Penny Franklin was unveiled on June 10, 1971, by U.S. Mint Director Mary Brooks
Mary Brooks
Mary Elizabeth Thomas Peavey Brooks directed the United States Mint from September 1969 to February 1977.Brooks was appointed by President Richard M. Nixon, the third woman named to the post...
. Over the next two decades, the sculpture, also known as Penny Benny, became "one of the city's best-known landmarks." But it eventually deteriorated and became a potential hazard. For a while, the sculpture was kept from tumbling onto the sidewalk by ropes rigged by the firefighters from the firehouse next door. In 1996, it was removed to city storage.
In 2003, the city's public arts agency commissioned sculptor James Peniston
James Peniston
James Peniston is an American sculptor whose monumental bronze works include Gregor Mendel and Keys To Community .-Life:...
to replace the older work. Peniston sculpted a bust
Bust (sculpture)
A bust is a sculpted or cast representation of the upper part of the human figure, depicting a person's head and neck, as well as a variable portion of the chest and shoulders. The piece is normally supported by a plinth. These forms recreate the likeness of an individual...
of Franklin in bronze
Bronze sculpture
Bronze is the most popular metal for cast metal sculptures; a cast bronze sculpture is often called simply a "bronze".Common bronze alloys have the unusual and desirable property of expanding slightly just before they set, thus filling the finest details of a mold. Then, as the bronze cools, it...
and covered it with casts of 1,000 keys collected from local schoolchildren. Called Keys To Community, the one-ton sculpture also contains several brass nameplates representing Philadelphia firefighters fallen in the line of duty over four centuries. The sculpture was partially funded by the Fire Department and by more than 1.5 million pennies donated by schoolchildren in 500 area schools. It was unveiled and dedicated on October 5, 2007.
The park itself had fallen into disrepair by the mid-1990s, and its gate was generally kept locked by the Fire Department. But a restoration effort, begun around 2005 and led by Old City residents Janet Kalter and Joe Schiavo, brought the park back into public use. In the wake of the sculpture's dedication, Fire Department officials consented to restoration work on the fountain. The work began in June 2008 and the fountain was restored to operation in August. The Fire Department formally returned the fountain to service in a Nov. 1 ceremony.
A horseshoes
Horseshoes
Horseshoes is an outdoor game played between two people using four horseshoes and two throwing targets set in a sandbox area. The game is played by the players alternating turns tossing horseshoes at stakes in the ground, which are traditionally placed 40 feet apart...
pit has been added to the park.
Not to be confused with Stephen Girard Park
Stephen Girard Park
Stephen Girard Park is a park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the South Philadelphia neighborhood at 21st and Shunk Streets. It is maintained by the City of Philadelphia's Fairmount Park Commission. The park was established in 1953 on land donated by Stephen Girard, and includes a house formerly...
in south Philadelphia.
External links
- A history of the park's location at jepsculpture.com.
- Photo of buildings demolished to clear parkland, November 20, 1959, PhillyHistory.org.
- Photo of rear wall under construction, December 14, 1967, PhillyHistory.org.
- Photo of rear wall under construction, 1969, PhillyHistory.org.
- Photo of rear wall, completed, March 30, 1969, PhillyHistory.org.
- Photo of front wall with Penny Franklin sculpture, May 11, 1977, PhillyHistory.org.
- Photos of Keys To Community, 3 October 2007, Flickr.com.
- Keys To Communitys entry at Philadelphia Public Art@philart.net.
- Before-and-after photos of restored park, August 2008, Flickr.com.
- 2009 photos of restored fountains.