The Smith Memorial Arch in West Fairmount Park. In 1897 Richard Smith proposed this project to honor Pennsylvania's Civil War heroes and provided $500,000 for its construction. Architect James H. Windrim designed the monument and supervised construction. The Fairmount Park Association chose the 13 artists whose sculptures decorate the monument. The memorial was completed in 1912.
Source: Smith Memorial Arch.associationforpublicart.org.Retrieved from associationforpublicart.org
186, including Fairmount Park (which makes up 95% of Phila. parkland), Penn's original 5 squares (Rittenhouse, Logan, Center, Washington, & Franklin), and Independence National Historic Park.
Source: Phila. Inquirer, D-2, 6/15/95
The 16th century Japanese House with garden, designed by Junzo Yoshimura, was a gift made to the Fairmount Park Art Association by the America Japan Society in 1958. It was built in Nagoya, Japan, using traditional materials and techniques and reconstructed on the site of the first Japanese garden in North America, built for the1876 Centennial Exhibition.
Source: History.Shofuso Japanese House and Garden.Retrieved from .japanesehouse.org
It is a large federal style house built in 1798 by William Lewis, who named it Summerhill. The second owner, Joseph Hemphill, added the two Greek Revival wings around 1828. Strawberry Mansion got its name in the 1850's when the farmers who owned it served strawberries and cream to the public. Strawberry Mansion was donated to the Fairmount Park Commission in 1871 by George Crock.
Source: Timeline.historicstrawberrymansion.org.Retrieved from historicstrawberrymansion.org
They were "The Women in the Wilderness", forty German Pietists who, in 1694, settled by the Wissahickon near Hermits Lane in Roxborough. A cave and spring in Fairmount Park are said to have been used by their leader, Johannes Kelpius, and bear his name.
Source: Saches, J.F., German Pietists of Provincial Pennsylvania, 1895.
"The Monastery", built circa 1747, was originally the home of Joseph Gorgas who was a member of the 7th day Baptist community in Ephrata. Brothers and sisters from Ephrata often stayed with him, which is probably why the house is referred to as a monastery. It is now a part of Fairmount Park, located at 1000 Kitchens Lane.
Source: History of the Monastery. monasterystables.org. Retrieved from monasterystables.org/history-of-the-monastery
The park's name changed in 1967 from the Tacony Creek Park to the Charles A. Russo Park to honor him as a leader of the community. He was the founder of three important Tacony Industrial firms which provided jobs for many residents. The park includes a playground, basketball courts, and Juniata golf course and clubhouse. Its boundaries are Tacony Creek from Wyoming Avenue to Cheltenham Avenue within the city boundary.
Source: Fairmount Park, a History and Guidebook, 1974, p.143, Esther M. Klein, 917.481 K672f
In the 19th century it was the Hunting Park Race Course. After racing became illegal local citizens purchased the land and gave it to Fairmount Park.
Source: Fairmount Park, a History and Guidebook, 1974, p.144, Esther M. Klein, 917.481 K672f
Indian Rock, which was where the Lenni Lanape held councils untill their departure from the area in 1764, is near where Rex Ave. would meet the Creek in the Chestnut Hill section of Fairmount Park. On it is a statue of Lenni Lenape chief, Tedyuscung.
Source: Fairmount Park, a History and Guidebook, 1974, p.124-125, Esther M. Klein, 917.481 K672f
It was built in 1740, and during the Revolutionary War hosted Washington, Lafayette and Howe. It was rebuilt in the mid-19th century and still serves food. It is at Wissahickon Drive and Springfield Avenue.
Mr. and Mrs. Richard Smith gave the money for this Juvenile Village, which opened in 1899. It is locally famous for its sliding-board which is 10 children wide. It is located at the Oxford Street entrance in the East Park.
Source: Fairmount Park, a History and Guidebook, 1974, p.166, Esther M. Klein, 917.481 K672f
Frederick Remington was the sculptor of the Cowboy located on Kelly Avenue near the Girard Avenue Bridge.
Source: Cowboy.associationforpublicart.org.Retrieved from associationforpublicart.org
Stanford White designed the granite plinth on which the statue The Republic sits. The Republic is part of the James Garfield Monument, created in 1895 by August Saint-Gaudens. The monument is located on Kelly Drive, south of Girard Avenue Bridge, in Fairmount Park.
Source: James A. Garfield Monument (1895).http://www.associationforpublicart.org.Retrieved from www.associationforpublicart.org/artwork
Along Kelly Drive you can see a bronze casting of The Pilgrim. Also in the Park are his bust of President James Garfield and his allegorical figure, The Republic.
Source: The Pilgrim.associationforpublicart.org.Retrieved from associationforpublicart.org
Daniel Chester French created the figure of Grant and Edward C. Potter sculpted his horse. The pedestal was designed by architect Frank Miles Day.
Source: General Ulysses S. Grant.associationforpublicart.org.Retrieved from associationforpublicart.org
Fairmount Park was created between 1855 and 1867 from city-owned land on Morris and Lemon Hills.
Source: Philadelphia Bulletin Almanac, 1976, p.322
The Native Americans in this area believed that it was in this churning pool, surrounded by large up-thrusting rocks, that the Good Spirit imprisoned the Evil Spirit.
Source: Mount Airy in Philadelphia, 1979, p.3, Phyllis Knapp Thomas, 974.811 T366m
During the American Revolution Molly Rinker would knit atop this rock in what is now Fairmount Park. She would often drop a ball of yarn in which was a coded message for our troops. This rock is now marked by a statue of a Quaker, which bears the message Toleration.
Source: Mount Airy in Philadelphia, 1979, p.3, Phyllis Knapp Thomas, 974.811 T366m
It was a fair to celebrate the Centennial of the Declaration of Independence and America's emergence as a new industrial power. Held in Fairmount Park on over 300 acres, it hosted 37 foreign nations and approximately 9 million people. 274,919 visited the site in one day. The official name of the exhibition was "International Exhibition of Arts, Manufactures and Products of the Soil and Mine."
Source: Exhibition Facts. freelibrary.org. Retrieved from freelibrary.org/collections/centennial/exhibition
Memorial Hall was the art gallery of the Centennial Exhibition of 1876, and it is one of the few buildings from the Exposition that still stand in Fairmount Park. One of America's first Beaux Arts buildings, it stands as a monument to the celebration of the nation's industrial achievements in the first one hundred years.
Source: Memorial Hall 1876. historic-details.com. Retrieved from historic-details.com
18th-century financier Robert Morris owned a country estate there which he called "The Hills" . In a greenhouse on the grounds he grew lemons and oranges, hence the name "Lemon Hill."
Source: Fairmount Park, a History and Guidebook, 1974, p.13, Esther M. Klein, 917.481 K672f
It was founded in 1872 for "adorning Fairmount Park with statues, busts, and other works of art." Anthony Drexel was its first president.
Source: Fairmount Park, a History and Guidebook, 1974, p.26, Esther M. Klein, 917.481 K672f
The "Castle" is the upriver clubhouse of the Undine Barge Club. Frank Furness designed both the clubhouse and the boathouse (#13 Boathouse Row). The clubhouse was built in 1875 at a cost of $1700. It was named after the home of Prince Huldbrand in the Legend of Undine.
Source: Ringstetten.undine.com.Retrieved from undine.com
The model is housed in the Please Touch Museum, which is in the original Memorial Hall in Fairmount Park.
Source: Memorial hall yields up a treasure. philly.com. Retrieved from http://philly.com