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Franklin Square
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| Location: | Race and 6th Sts. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
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| Built: | 1683 |
| Architect: | Thomas Holme |
| Governing body: | Local |
| MPS: | Four Public Squares of Philadelphia TR |
| NRHP Reference#: | 81000556[1] |
| Added to NRHP: | September 14, 1981 |
Franklin Square is one of the five original open-space parks planned by William Penn during the late 17th century in central Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
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Originally called Northeast Square, Franklin Square was renamed in 1825 to honor Benjamin Franklin, one of the most prominent Founding Fathers of the United States and a leading printer, scientist, inventor, civic activist and diplomat.
In its early years, the square was an open common used for grazing animals, storing gun powder (during the American Revolution) drilling soldiers (during the War of 1812). From 1741 to 1835, a portion of the Square was used as a cemetery by the German Reform Church; some of the graves still remain.
A legend maintains that this is the spot where Benjamin Franklin conducted his famous (though misunderstood)[2] "kite and key" experiment in 1752. However, it would have been unlikely that Franklin would have flown a kite near a cemetery, and not all that far from possible observers from town. Still, the presence of Bolt of Lightning, Isamu Noguchi’s large stainless steel sculpture that faces the Square across 6th Street (erected in 1984 as a tribute to Franklin), helps support this legend.
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, Franklin Square was at the center of a fashionable neighborhood in which to live. But beginning in the 1920s, a series of events corresponding with the rise of the automobile began the decline of the Square and its surrounding neighborhood. The construction of the Ben Franklin Bridge, from 1922–26, leveled blocks of row homes, shops and other structures; the Bridge begins at the Square’s eastern boundary, 6th Street. The steady flow of cars over the bridge made Franklin Square’s northern boundary, Vine Street, into one of the city’s busiest thoroughfares, effectively cutting off pedestrian access on two of the Square's sides.
In 1961, architecture writer Jane Jacobs labeled Franklin Square a “skid row park,” a description that fit for decades. The neighborhood’s residential character was further eroded when the federal government established Independence Mall. The government acquired private land around the Square in the 1950s and 1960s and demolished blocks of homes and other buildings. The construction of the Vine Street Expressway in the late 1980s exacerbated the problem. Franklin Square became the least-used of Penn’s original five squares, and served mainly an encampment for the homeless.
In 1976, the city dedicated the Living Flame Memorial to the city's fallen policemen and firefighters, centered on a sculpture by local sculptor Reginald E. Beauchamp.
The park was refurbished and rededicated in July 2006, Franklin’s tercentenary year, by Historic Philadelphia, Incorporated, a non-profit company responsible for the Betsy Ross House, Once Upon A Nation, and Lights of Liberty. Complete with the Philadelphia Park Liberty Carousel, Philly Miniature Golf, new playgrounds, and a restored 19th-century fountain, Franklin Square is now touted as an entertainment destination near Independence National Historical Park. Added in 2009, SquareBurger is a new addition to the magnificent park providing an array of goodies like the Cake Shake. The Starr Restaurant Organization was hired to operate the new SquareBurger and to cater events and birthday parties at the park. Recent development around Franklin Square has included new housing in the Northern Liberties section of Philadelphia and the redevelopment of the shuttered Metropolitan Hospital as a condominium project. As a result, pedestrian traffic has increased dramatically. On May 20, 2009, Delaware River Port Authority (DRPA) Chairman John Estey announced that the DRPA would renovate and modernize the PATCO Speedline subway station under Franklin Square. The Franklin Square station has been closed since 1979, but is now slated to be upgraded and made compliant with the Americans With Disabilities Act. No opening date has been set.[3]
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