Birthday hats. Bubbles. Birds. Butterscotch Krimpets. A Benjamin Franklin reenactor singing “Happy Birthday.”
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That was the fanfare Saturday morning as Franklin Square, the once-forgotten green space at Sixth and Race Streets, celebrated a milestone: This July marks 20 years since the square’s dramatic revitalization, which transformed it from a dusty and dim outpost to a destination for family-friendly fun.
The pomp and hordes of young children playing with sidewalk chalk, kazoos, and streamers amid the daylight remnants of the annual Philadelphia Chinese Lantern Festival were far removed from the Franklin Square of yore, when it was publicly described as part of the city’s “skid row.”
“It did not look good,” Amy Needle, president and CEO of Historic Philadelphia Inc., said of Franklin Square’s image in the early aughts. “It was really neglected. … There was no reason to go there.
“And I think we all saw the potential.”
Franklin Square (originally dubbed North East Publick Square and later renamed in honor of Benjamin Franklin) dates back to 1682, when William Penn designed Philadelphia. Penn anchored the city around a quintet of parks that would become Franklin Square, Washington Square, Rittenhouse Square, Logan Square, and Centre Square (City Hall).
While Franklin Square’s 7½ acres may have been heavily used by Philly’s earliest settlers because of its proximity to the Delaware River, its condition started to decline in the early 20th century, when broad swaths of homes on the park’s perimeter were razed to make way for the on-ramps to the Ben Franklin Bridge and, later, the Vine Street Expressway and I-95 feeder, according to The Inquirer’s archives. The park’s greenery was replaced by a brick desert, and the isolation and inaccessibility led to disarray.
Famed urban theorist Jane Jacobs said of Franklin Square: It was “where the homeless, the unemployed and the people of indigent leisure gather amid the flophouses, cheap hotels, missions, [and] second-hand clothing stores.” Occasionally, tai chi groups and area daycares used the expansive lawns and shady respite, after brushing away debris and drug paraphernalia, according to Needle.
“It was a dump,” recalled Keith Owens, 69, of Cherry Hill, who was visiting Saturday with his family. “I just remember it was not a place you went to.”
By the early 2000s, a movement to reinvent the square gained traction, coinciding with the opening of the National Constitution Center, a new flood of tourists to the long-vacant “third block” of Independence Mall between Arch and Race Streets, and a residential housing boom. The effort, led by Historic Philadelphia and then-Gov. Ed Rendell, sought to to revamp Center City’s “most underutilized” square footage and enhance tourists’ trips between Old City destinations, The Inquirer wrote at the time.
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The rehab included fixing the 1800s fountain and installing lighting, new playground equipment, a carousel, and an 18-hole miniature golf course featuring Philadelphia iconography — landmarks that set Franklin Square apart from other, “passive” parks like Rittenhouse or Washington, according to Needle. Although the park is owned by the city, it is operated and maintained by Needle’s group.
“We had to have attractions there and give people a reason to go there,” she said. “We wanted to create experiences.”
In the years since, the square has added the cherished Chinese Lantern Festival and a Square Burger eatery; meanwhile, the adjacent PATCO station reopened after nearly 50 years, new apartment complexes are being erected, and the restrooms were renovated for the first time since the Bicentennial in 1976. Now, Historic Philadelphia is raising funds to redo the playground and recently received a $1 million boost from the state to do so.
“I just feel like it’s exploding — every time we come back, there’s more stuff here,” attendee Brooke Duane said.
“And the bathrooms, which are great.”
Despite living in Chester County, Duane — who said she staged her maternity photos at the square and celebrated her nephew’s birthday there — finds herself routinely coming back.
For 22-year-old Sabrina Owens, Franklin Square stands as a testament to the importance of investing in public spaces: “With so many diminishing third spaces … to know that this is here, and it’s such a revamped space, and it’s very welcoming, is very encouraging.
“It’s a good sign for the city.”
When asked about the Franklin Square of the future, Needle said she hopes it “continues to be a wonderful public space for people.”
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