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The Squares of Fairmount Park "The soil is good, the air serene and sweet from the cedar, pine and sassafras, with the wild myrtle of great fragrance." So wrote William Penn in an early description of "Penn's Woods," the emerging colony of Pennsylvania. When he began to design his capital, Philadelphia, he pictured it as "a green countrie towne" with an abundance of trees and gardens. Though Penn had to compromise to some degree, the 1682 city plan drawn up by his surveyor, Thomas Holme, created five open squares - one at the center of the street grid and one each in the outlying quadrants. At first the squares had geographical names: Center, Northwest, Southwest, Northeast and Southeast. In the 19th century, they were renamed to honor prominent historical figures. In early years squares served as pastures, burial grounds, and cattle markets. With the exception of Center Square, future home of City Hall, they have kept their basic identity through two centuries of urban development - refreshing bits of Penn's Woods in the heart of the city. |
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