Eakins Oval

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Washington Monument
The Washington Monument at Eakins Oval.
Location	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Coordinates	39°57′49″N 75°10′43″W / 39.96361°N 75.17861°W / 39.96361; -75.17861Coordinates: 39°57′49″N 75°10′43″W / 39.96361°N 75.17861°W / 39.96361; -75.17861

Philadelphia Register of Historic Places
Official name: Washington Fountain
Location of Washington Monument in Pennsylvania

Eakins Oval is a traffic circle in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that forms the northwest end of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway just in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, with a central array of fountains and monuments and a network of pedestrian walkways.

This loop of road usually carries a large volume of traffic, as it connects the core of the city with Fairmount Park, Kelly Drive (formerly East River Drive), and Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive (formerly West River Drive). During parades and other major municipal events such as the Thanksgiving Day Parade, and large concerts such as Live 8 Philadelphia, the roadways are shut down to automobile traffic and the oval becomes center stage for the gathering.

The oval was part of urban planner Jacques Gréber's design for the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, which he proposed in 1917.^[1]

The oval is named for Thomas Eakins, Philadelphia resident, world-famous realist painter, and fine arts educator.

The southeastern part of the oval serves as a parking lot; it was originally part of the Parkway until traffic modifications isolated it in the 1960s.

The Washington Monument

Buffalo at the base of the statue.

Bear at the base of the statue.

Fisherwoman at the base of the statue.

Just inside the northwest edge of Eakins Oval, in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art stairs, stands the Washington Monument fountain. It was commissioned and designed by sculptor Rudolf Siemering. The sculpture was dedicated in 1897 at the Green Street entrance to Fairmount Park. It was moved in 1928 to its present location after construction on the parkway was completed.^[2] In 1997, work to restore the statue began under the direction of Margo Berg of the Philadelphia Art Commission. Over the years, the sculpture had come loose from its base, and the fountain had ceased to function properly. The restoration was completed in June of the same year, 100 years after it was dedicated.

The bronze and granite sculpture features a uniformed George Washington mounted on a horse. Washington and his horse are poised on top of the fountain, facing southeast down the Benjamin Franklin Parkway towards Philadelphia City Hall. The face of the sculpture was made from an impression of the former president made while he was still alive. The lowest level of the monument features Native Americans and animals that are native to the United States.

Other fountains

The Washington Monument fountain is flanked by two smaller fountains, honoring Eli Kirk Price II and John Ericsson.

Transportation tunnels

Beneath Eakins Oval and the surrounding area run two tunnels, originally for rail traffic, and constructed in the 1920s at the same time as the Oval, the Parkway, and the Art Museum. The lower tunnel, built for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, is owned by successor CSX and carries freight trains on a single track (originally double). The upper tunnel carried streetcars on the Spring Garden Street line (Route 43) of Philadelphia Rapid Transit (PRT) and successor Philadelphia Transportation Company (PTC) until 1956. This double-track tunnel was then completely rebuilt in 1960 to carry two lanes of one-way (westbound only) traffic on Spring Garden from Pennsylvania Avenue to the Spring Garden Street Bridge over the Schuylkill River; currently only one lane is in use. This tunnel crosses above the CSX tunnel in the middle. Today's Route 43 buses, operated by SEPTA, circle the Oval and do not use the tunnel.

Gallery

Detail from the top of the monument, facing southeast.
Detail from the southeast side of the monument.
Detail from the northeast side of the monument.
Detail from the southeast side.
Horse and rider.

References

↑ Historic Notes on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway at the National Park Service.
↑ Save Outdoor Sculpture, Philadelphia Survey. "George Washington Monument, (sculpture)". SIRIS. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved June 8, 2011.

External links

Municipalities and communities of the City and County of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

Sections and
Neighborhoods

Center City	Avenue of the Arts Chinatown Eakins Oval Elfreth's Alley Fitler Square Franklintown French Quarter Independence Mall Jewelers' Row Logan Square Market East Museum District Naval Square Old City Penn Center Penn's Landing Rittenhouse Square Schuylkill Avenue Society Hill South Street Washington Square West

South	Bella Vista Central South Philadelphia Devil's Pocket Dickinson Narrows East Passyunk Crossing FDR Park Girard Estate Grays Ferry Greenwich Hawthorne Italian Market Little Saigon Lower Moyamensing Marconi Plaza Moyamensing Newbold Packer Park Passyunk Square Pennsport Point Breeze Queen Village Schuykill Southwark Southwest Center City Sports Complex Tasker West Passyunk Wharton Whitman Wilson Park

Southwest	Angora Bartram Village Clearview Eastwick Elmwood Park Hedgerow Hog Island Kingsessing Mount Moriah Paschall Penrose PHL Southwest Schuylkill

West	Avenue of Technology Belmont Village Carroll Park Cathedral Park Centennial District Cedar Park Cobbs Creek Dunlap Garden Court Haddington Haverford North Mantua Mill Creek Overbrook Overbrook Farms Overbrook Park Parkside Powelton Village Saunders Park Spruce Hill Squirrel Hill University City Walnut Hill Woodland Terrace Wynnefield Wynnefield Heights

Lower North	Belfield Brewerytown Cabot Callowhill Fairhill Fairmount Francisville Hartranft Ivy Hill Ludlow North Central Northern Liberties Poplar Sharswood South Lehigh Spring Garden Stanton Strawberry Mansion Templetown Yorktown (also see North Philadelphia)

Upper North	Allegheny West Franklinville Glenwood Hunting Park Nicetown-Tioga Olde Kensington West Kensington

River Wards	Bridesburg Fishtown Harrowgate Kensington Port Richmond

Lower Northwest	Andorra East Falls Manayunk Roxborough Wissahickon (also see Northwest Philadelphia)

Upper Northwest	Beggarstown Chestnut Hill Germantown Morton Mount Airy Wister Cedarbrook (also see Northwest Philadelphia)

Olney-Oak Lane	East Oak Lane Feltonville Fern Rock Koreatown Logan Ogontz Olney West Oak Lane

Near Northeast	Burholme Castor Gardens Crescentville Fox Chase Frankford Holme Circle Holmesburg Juniata Lawndale Lexington Park Mayfair Oxford Circle Rhawnhurst Ryers Tacony Wissinoming (also see Northeast Philadelphia)

Far Northeast	Academy Gardens Ashton-Woodenbridge Bustleton Byberry Crestmont Farms Millbrook Modena Park Morrell Park Normandy Parkwood Pennypack Somerton Torresdale Upper Holmesburg Winchester Park

Former
Municipalities

City	Philadelphia (Center City)

Boroughs	Aramingo Bridesburg Frankford Germantown Manayunk West Philadelphia Whitehall

Districts	Belmont Kensington Moyamensing Northern Liberties Penn Richmond Southwark Spring Garden

Townships	Blockley Bristol Byberry Delaware Germantown Kingsessing Lower Dublin Moreland Northern Liberties Oxford Passyunk Penn Roxborough

Footnotes

As a consolidated city-county Philadelphia is its own county seat.

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