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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
IV. DIVERSITY OF LANDSCAPE Even the earliest Park Commissioners, in their zeal to assure green space for Philadelphia, could not have imagined the breadth and scope that Fairmount Park was to take throughout the 20th century. Spread throughout the city and reaching the furthest corner of Philadelphia County, the Park includes historic houses, city squares, street trees, river valleys, small neighborhood parks, a working farm, open space, and extensive recreation facilities. The monumental scale of Fairmount Park is one of its greatest assets, setting it apart from other urban parks in the United States, and making it available to a wide variety of users.  18th Century Drawing of Botanist John Bartram's Estate 1758 Fairmount Park Commission Bartram's Garden is one of the many historic house landscapes in the Fairmount Park System. Located in southwestern Philadelphia, the site is internationally known as a source of North American plant species of the 18th and 19th centuries.  Fairmount Park System From Fairmount Park Master Plan Summary Wallace Roberts & Todd - Consultants 1983 Fairmount Park Commission  Design Landscape Plan for League Island Park Olmsted Brothers, Landscape Architects, Brookline, Massachusetts July 1915 National Park Service, Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site Olmsted Plan #3822-136 Fairmount Park Commission League Island Park in South Philadelphia became known as Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) Park. Nestled below the city's sports stadium complex and above the Philadelphia Navy Yard, FDR Park is the southernmost section of Fairmount Park. Once known as "the Neck", park developers transformed this previously undesirable marshland into parkland. In 1926, it served as the site of America's SesquiCentennial Exposition.  Wissahickon Valley, near Valley Green photographer unknown c. 1908 Fairmount Park Commission  Chamounix Falls, a Lost Water Feature photographer unknown c. 1919 Fairmount Park Commission  Street Tree Planting From "Report of the Committee on Street Trees" April 1913 Fairmount Park Commission Under the Act of 31 May 1907, the State of Pennsylvania enacted a highway shade-tree law, encompassing the planting, care and removal of trees along streets and highways. The Fairmount Park Commission became the "Shade-Tree Commission" of Philadelphia and publicized rules and regulations for the care of street trees, a responsibility it still enforces today. Although homeowners may care for their street trees, a permit from the Fairmount Park Commission is required to plant or remove a tree.  Manayunk Canal at Sunset Peter Odell, Photographer 1987 Fairmount Park Commission  Water Lilies on Centennial Lake Peter Odell, Photographer 1987 Fairmount Park Commission |
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