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| >HOME >HISTORY/ARTS/CULTURE >GENERAL HISTORY | |
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Park Origins
 What Would Have Been
Transformation of the LandscapeDiversity of Landscape Evolving Forms of Park RecreationSupport for Public Use Citizen Involvement
I. PARK ORIGINS Philadelphia's yellow fever epidemics of the 1790s spurred City Councils to seek a system to provide safe drinking water to the citizens of the city. In 1801, water works were built on the original Center Square, current site of City Hall. In 1815 the Center Square water works were replaced by the Fairmount Water Works and its reservoir atop Faire Mount (the current site of the Philadelphia Museum of Art). Throughout the early 1800s industrial pollution threatened the water quality and numerous attempts, through legislation and acquisition of riverfront properties, successfully safeguarded the water supply. The Consolidation Act of 1854 granted the newly-enlarged Philadelphia City and County the power to acquire areas within the city as open public space.  Promotional Pamphlet (Philadelphia: Crissy and Markley, June 1856) Record Series 149.11 Philadelphia City Archives Fairmount Park was officially founded in 1855 when the Lemon Hill estate was dedicated as a public park and renamed Fairmount Park. Support came from 2,400 citizens who signed a petition urging the purchase of Lemon Hill. 
"Map of Fairmount Park and its Connexions" in "Fairmount Park Contribution" (Philadelphia: T.K. and P.G. Collins, June 1856) Record Series 149.11 Philadelphia City Archives In another effort to protect Philadelphia's water supply private citizens raised funds to purchase the Sedgley Estate in 1856. The group raised $60,000 of the $125,000 purchase price. The city contributed the balance and the property was deeded to the City. This Estate was the second significant piece of land purchased and prohibited its being developed. Note the concentration of water works on both sides of the Schuylkill River on this map. To escape the city's epidemics and summer heat, villas sprung up on the banks of the Schuylkill River. By the end of the 18th century the River was lined with villas, several of which can still be seen in Fairmount Park today. As extensive acreage surrounded these villas, they posed little threat to the River's water quality. City growth, the damming of the Schuylkill River, and the growth of suburban areas outside Philadelphia slowly ended the Villa Period.  "Map of Farms and Lots Embraces within the Limits of Fairmount Park" 1868 Record Series 149.37 Philadelphia City Archives Unlike New York City's Central Park with its man-made landscapes, Fairmount Park evolved through the absorption of older estates, their tree groves and open meadowland without significant alterations.  Map of Spring Hill c. 1799 Fairmount Park Commission For example John Clawger, a painter, occupied the eighty-acre Spring Hill as his county seat from 1791 to 1799. This estate later became part of the Philadelphia Zoo.  "Topographical Map of Fairmount Park" 1870 (Reproduced in 1996 by the Historic American Buildings Survey) Fairmount Park Commission Confining the detail and massive size of Fairmount Park to paper was one of the most challenging tasks faced by surveyors. This 1870 map served as the park's working grid for the next forty years, helping park engineers lay out roads, paths, trolley lines and other features. This map also has the distinction of being one of the earliest topographic maps known to exist of any area within Philadelphia. |
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