Girard Fountain Park
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Girard Fountain Park is a 0.15-acre pocket park in the Old City neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at 325 Arch Street. It is maintained by the Philadelphia Fire Department.[1]
The park was created in the mid-1960s after the demolition of four 3- and 4-story commercial buildings that had stood on the northeast corner of 4th and Arch Streets. A firehouse was built on the corner lots, while the lot formerly occupied by 325 Arch was cleared.[2]
In 1971, a sculpture of Benjamin Franklin by local sculptor Reginald E. Beauchamp was installed atop the park's front wall. It was made of acrylic and covered with almost 80,000 pennies collected from local schoolchildren, and it incorporated a device that delivered a recorded two-minute speech on fire prevention at the push of a button.[3] Penny Franklin was unveiled on June 10, 1971, by U.S. Mint Director Mary Brooks.[4] Over the next two decades, the sculpture, also known as Penny Benny, became "one of the city's best-known landmarks." But it eventually deteriorated and became a potential hazard. For a while, the sculpture was kept from tumbling onto the sidewalk by ropes rigged by the firefighters from the firehouse next door.[5] In 1996, it was removed to city storage.[6]
In 2003, the city's public arts agency commissioned sculptor James Peniston to replace the older work. Peniston sculpted a bust of Franklin in bronze and covered it with casts of 1,000 keys collected from local schoolchildren. Called Keys To Community, the one-ton sculpture also contains several brass nameplates representing Philadelphia firefighters fallen in the line of duty over four centuries. The sculpture was partially funded by the Fire Department and by more than 1.5 million pennies donated by schoolchildren in 500 area schools. It was unveiled and dedicated on October 5, 2007.[7]
Not to be confused with Stephen Girard Park in south Philadelphia.
[edit] External links
- Girard Fountain Park is at coordinates Coordinates:
- Photo of buildings demolished to clear parkland, November 20, 1959, PhillyHistory.org.
- Photo of rear wall under construction, December 14, 1967, PhillyHistory.org.
- Photo of park front and 323 Arch Street before construction of front wall, May 11, 1968, PhillyHistory.org.
- Photo of rear wall, completed, March 30, 1969, PhillyHistory.org.
- Photo of front wall with Penny Franklin sculpture, May 11, 1977, PhillyHistory.org.
- Photos of the installation of Keys To Community, 3 October 2007, Flickr.com.
- Keys To Community's entry at Philadelphia Public Art@philart.net.
[edit] References
- ^ "James Peniston Sculpture: Work: Keys To Community, 2007," retrieved 13 October 2007.
- ^ "James Peniston Sculpture: Location: Keys To Community, 2007," retrieved 29 October 2007.
- ^ "James Peniston Sculpture: Penny Franklin retrieved 29 October 2007.
- ^ "Mint Director Unveils Penny Franklin Sculpture." U.S. Treasury Department, June 10, 1971. Retrieved 29 October 2007.
- ^ "Big Heads," Scene on the Road, blog post by Philadelphia Inquirer photographer Tom Gralish, 22 October 2007. Retrieved 29 October 2007.
- ^ "Statue may return to mint condition," Philadelphia Inquirer, August 19, 2001. Retrieved 29 October 2007 via LexisNexis.
- ^ "Ben Franklin is busted," The Bulletin, October 9, 2007. Retrieved 29 October 2007.
