The idea for the memorial originated with the the Aero Club of Pennsylvania, which was founded in 1909 and is one of the country's oldest aviation clubs. In 1917, the club donated funds to the Fairmount Park Art Association, which collected money for the memorial. However, it took until the late 1930s for enough money to be raised. Finally in 1939 that goal was achieved and the association reached out to Manship, whose design was approved in 1944. By then, he had already created several sphere sculptures, including Prometheus and the Woodrow Wilson Memorial at the League of Nations building in Geneva, Switzerland (the building is now known as the Palace of Nations).

The bronze sphere is opposite the main entrance of the Franklin Institute and is dedicated to the aviators who died in World War I.

“Aero Memorial” by Paul Manship - Museum Without Walls

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To commemorate aviators who died in World War I, sculptor Paul Manship (1885-1966) created the Aero Memorial in 1948. It features a stone pedestal with a bronze celestial sphere on top that contains intricate intertwined forms evoking the signs of the zodiac in the night sky. It is believed the night sky represents the aviators who died in the war. Manship was one of the country's foremost sculptors and was influenced by classical Roman and archaic Greek Art. He received numerous awards for his work around the world. One of his most well-known works is the Prometheus sculpture in Rockefeller Center in New York City.

Aero Memorial

This tour starts at the Wanamaker Building and Philadelphia's City Hall and includes two dozen Philadelphia landmarks within a short walk. Highlights of the tour include the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Franklin Institute, one of the first monuments dedicated to African American soldiers, the Rodin Museum, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Aeor Memorial, and Lemon Hill Mansion. 

John Wanamaker and his brother-in-law, Nathan Brown, went into business together and opened a men’s and boy’s clothing store, Oak Hill, in 1861. When Brown died in 1868, Wanamaker moved on his expansion ideas. Inspired by the large stores he encountered in London and Paris, he purchased an abandoned railway station and converted it into a new clothing store just in time for the city’s Centennial Exposition in 1876. He expanded the store to include women’s clothing and dry goods in 1877, thus creating Philadelphia’s first department store. Wanamaker’s then embarked on a series of firsts; the first department store to use price tags as opposed to haggling, electrical lighting (1878), a telephone (1879), and pneumatic tubes to transport papers and cash (1880). Wanamaker, facing competition from other department stores, decided to expand yet again. He gradually replaced his Grand Depot with the current Wanamaker Building from 1904-1911. It was designed in the Florentine style by Daniel Burnham and dedicated by President William Taft. The heart of the store was, and still is, its multi-floored Grand Court, that featured a 2,500 lb bronze eagle and a massive organ. Both had served with distinction at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis and were later acquired and shipped to Philadelphia at the behest of Wannamaker and his son, Rodman. The eagle was designed by August Gaul and quickly became the mascot of, not only the Philadelphia store, but the entire chain. Shoppers can still be heard saying to one another, “meet me at the eagle.”The organ, built by the Los Angeles Art Organ Company, consisted of over 10,000 pipes, came to Wanamaker’s via 13 rail cars and took two years to install. However, given the immense size of the Grand Court, it was deemed insufficient for the space and went through a series of expansions. By 1930 it had grown to 28,500 pipes and 461 stops making it the largest operating organ on the globe, a distinction it still holds. The organ is still played twice a day, every day except Sundays and is featured in Macy’s Holiday Pageant of Lights Christmas Show which began in 1956.As for Wanamaker’s, as the years progressed, it faced steep competition from other department stores and, eventually, suburban malls. The 15-store chain was then sold to Woodward and Lothrop in 1986. The store was gradually reduced to its current size of three floors and the name on the front went from Hecht’s to Strawbridge’s to Lord and Taylor and finally to Macy’s in 2006. Renovations to the building were completed in 1991 which added an atrium starting at the ninth floor, a conference center with two 400-seat auditoriums, and a three-floor parking garage in the basement. The floors above the third have long ago been converted to office space. However, the organ and eagle remain.

Now occupied by Macy’s City Center and office space, the Wanamaker Building, completed in 1911, housed Wanamaker’s Department Store.  It sits on the site of the former Pennsylvania Railroad Station in which John Wanamaker placed his first department store, then known as Wanamaker’s Grand Depot.  Wanamaker’s, was known for two things, other than selling an extensive selection of goods, and they were the organ and the eagle.  The Wanamaker Building has had a few different owners over the years, but the organ and eagle have endured and are still there to this day.  The building was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1978 as was its iconic organ in 1980.

The Wanamaker Building and Organ

One of the first historical precedents for Mother's Day was an annual day called "Mothering Sunday," which was observed in the Christian tradition during the medieval period in Europe. Held on the fourth Sunday of Lent, it was a time when people would return to their local church or "mother church." Prior to this, there was also a precedent for Mother's Day in the ancient Greek and Roman pagan festivals that honored mothers and motherhood. Within the Greco-Roman pantheon of deities, the great mother goddess known as Rhea in ancient Greece and Cybele in ancient Rome was celebrated with an outdoor festival each April.Although the celebration of Mothering Sunday was a part of Christian culture during the European middle ages, over time it gradually lost its religious affiliations and became more of a secular holiday in Europe (and in America). Children continued to give their mothers small gifts and flowers as tokens of their appreciation, but the historical roots of the tradition were mostly lost over the centuries. All of this changed in the nineteenth century when several women activists sought to re-establish a tradition honoring mothers during and after the Civil War. These efforts then culminated In a campaign led by Anna Marie Jarvis, a resident of Philadelphia, for federal recognition of Mother's Day in the early 1900s. Jarvis hoped that the occasion would be a time for people to remember their mothers, and to reflect and appreciate the sacrifices that they had made. In her view, this new observance of Mother's Day would be connected with the earlier contemplative and religious Christian tradition from which it emerged.Anna Marie Jarvis's mother, Anna Reeves Jarvis, lived in West Virginia during the Civil War. During the 1860s, around the time of her daughter's birth, she founded "Mothers' Day Work Clubs" to improve childcare by promoting the teaching and sharing of mothering skills with other women in the community. The new clubs ended up providing solidarity between women in the midst of the divisive war. In 1868, Anna Reeves Jarvis decided to expand upon her Mothers' Day Work Clubs by planning a "Mother's Friendship Day," in which mothers gathered with Union and Confederate soldiers to encourage reconciliation in the years after the war.Along similar lines but on a larger scale, in 1870 the suffragette and abolitionist Julia Ward Howe proposed a "Mother's Peace Day." Howe lived in New England and was best known for writing the lyrics to The Battle Hymn of the Republic (1861), a pro-Union anthem, at the beginning of the Civil War. Yet in 1870, five years after the war had ended, Howe penned a pacifist proclamation asking mothers to come together to promote world peace. By 1873, Howe was campaigning for this day of peace to be celebrated nationally each year on June 2nd. Around the same time, another activist named Juliet Calhoun Blakely established a local mother's day celebration in Michigan, and similar events in other communities have also been documented during this period. In the early 1900s, Anna Marie Jarvis began campaigning in Philadelphia for Mother's Day to become an official holiday. Jarvis was moved to first observe the occasion herself after her own mother's passing in 1908, when she sent flowers to her mother's church in West Virginia. As described by the historian Katherine Antolini in Memorializing Motherhood: Anna Jarvis and the Struggle for Control of Mother's Day, Jarvis herself viewed Mother's Day as an occasion to honor the homemaking and childrearing functions of motherhood, rather than to recognize the ways in which many mothers were also engaged members of their communities with broader responsibilities outside the home. Nevertheless, a recent article in TIME Magazine notes that:<blockquote>"some historians also point out the paradoxical timing of Jarvis’ version of Mother’s Day taking hold at the beginning of the 20th century: people had been talking about the idea for decades, but the holiday got national attention just at a time when more women were beginning to get jobs outside the home, and some experts see the embrace of a celebration of motherhood as a backlash against that change."</blockquote>In 1912, Jarvis launched a Mother's Day International Association, and in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson signed an executive measure announcing that the special occasion would be celebrated annually on the second Sunday in May. However, the commercialization and secularization of the holiday followed soon after, much to the dismay of Anna Jarvis. She was deeply upset that Mother's Day was becoming irreverent, as florists and retailers sought ways to maximize profits from the sale of flowers and gift items. Jarvis took matters into her own hands by writing harsh letters, threatening lawsuits, planning protests, and even blaming Eleanor Roosevelt for using Mother's Day as an opportunity to raise money for charitable causes. In 1933, Jarvis went so far as to ask President Franklin D. Roosevelt to remove Mother's Day from the federal calendar. Yet, her efforts to reverse the tide were unsuccessful. The holiday that she helped to create had become part of the American culture and economy. It remains so to this day. As a special occasion, Mother's Day is celebrated in various forms and at different times of year by other cultures across the world. In 1998, the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission installed a historical marker commemorating Jarvis's particular connection to the establishment of Mother's Day in America. The marker was installed across from the former location of John Wanamaker's department store, which was known as Grand Depot, as Wanamaker had been an early supporter of Mother's Day becoming a federal holiday. The historical marker describes the origins of Mother's Day in the U.S. in the following way: "Founded by Anna Jarvis of Philadelphia. First officially observed in 1908, it honored motherhood and family life at a time of rising feminist activism. An early supporter was John Wanamaker, whose store stood opposite. Mother’s Day was given federal recognition, 1914."

This historical marker notes that Mother's Day was first observed in the U.S. in 1908 and was signed into law through an executive measure by President Woodrow Wilson in 1914. Anna Marie Jarvis (1864 - 1948) campaigned to establish Mother's Day as a national holiday after the passing of her own mother, Anna Reeves Jarvis. Her mother was a resident of West Virginia who had, in an earlier generation, founded a "Mother's Day Work Club" in her hometown during the Civil War. Although Mother’s Day was granted federal recognition in 1914, Anna Marie Jarvis eventually grew to regret the commercialization and secularization of the holiday, as retailers sought to profit from the special occasion, and it lost its contemplative and religious connotations. In 1933, Jarvis even petitioned President Franklin D. Roosevelt to remove Mother's Day from the federal calendar. However, she could not undo what she had helped to create; the holiday remains a part of the American culture and economy to this day. This historical marker, installed by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, describes the first observance of the holiday in the U.S. as honoring "motherhood and family life at a time of rising feminist activism." The marker also notes that an early supporter of the effort was John Wanamaker, who owned a store across the street.

Mother's Day Historical Marker

When Pennsylvania's founder, William Penn, designed the city of Philadelphia in 1681, he set aside five parcels of land public spaces, including what he called Centre Square. The square would be the site of public buildings, including city hall. It took roughly two hundred years for Penn's vision to come to fruition.&nbsp; Philadelphia's original City Hall was located at 2nd and Market Streets. When the Independence Hall complex was completed, the building was moved to 5th and Chestnut Streets.The decision to build a new city hall was also based on the changing nature of the city. The city and county were consolidated in 1854, doubling the population of Philadelphia. Old City Hall, a modest, two-story building, could no longer meet the needs of the growing city, and in 1871, the current location was chosen by popular vote. Philadelphia has a long history as one of the nation's most important cities. In the late 1800s, the city had aspirations of once again becoming America's most important urban area, and when construction of City Hall began, no expense was spared. Planners wanted a grand building to reflect the city's status. It was built in the French Second Empire style, which was popular at the time. It was a massive undertaking--the building has 14.5 acres of floor space and almost 700 rooms. More than 88 million bricks were used in the construction and the granite base of the tower has walls that are 22 feet thick in places. Construction of the building stretched into the next century, eventually taking thirty years and reaching a cost of almost $25 million. The building's designers intended that it would be the tallest in the world,&nbsp;but the slow pace of construction meant that it had been surpassed by the Eiffel Tower and the Washington Monument when it was complete. With the addition of the 37-foot statue of William Penn at the top, however, it was--for a time--the tallest occupied building in the world. It remained the tallest building in Philadelphia until 1987 when One Liberty Place took the title. The remarkable structure can still claim to be the largest municipal building in the United States, however, with more rooms than the US Capitol.&nbsp;City Hall is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is also a National Historic Landmark.&nbsp; &nbsp;

Philadelphia's iconic City Hall building is the largest municipal building in the United States and took thirty years to complete. For many years, this was the tallest building in the city until the completion of One Liberty Place in 1987. This impressive building replaced a previous city hall which was located at 5th and Chesnut until 1871. With granite that is 22 feet thick in some places, no expense was spared in the building's construction which continued in phases until 1901. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as well as a national survey of the 150 most significant buildings in the United States.

Philadelphia City Hall

Dedicated on September 26, 1873, the Temple in Philadelphia, built in the Norman-Romanesque style, contains some of the most stunning ornate interiors of any late Victorian structure in the nation. The Masonic organization that built the temple officially went by the name "The Right Worshipful Grand Lodge of the most Ancient and Honorable Fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons of Pennsylvania." As part of the Grand Lodge of Philadelphia, the society has had many noteworthy Grand Masters, including Ben Franklin. The historic temple building speaks to the organization's prosperity as it cost $1.6 million to build in the 1870s (some estimates would put that value at more than $35 million in 2022 dollars). Freemason membership, almost exclusively comprised of white males, grew substantially during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and Masonic organizations like this one played significant roles in communities offering social organizations that also supported philanthropic efforts, education, and community service. Masonic organizations are believed to have roots well back into the Middle Ages but are also associated with secret societies forming in England and its colonies (including North America) during the eighteenth century. Although an abundance of folklore and speculation surround the history of Freemasons, aspiring men throughout the U.S. during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries became Masons; numerous wealthy entrepreneurs and politicians were Freemasons.Before constructing the temple, the Masons used at least fourteen different locations for meetings. In 1867, an architectural competition was held, which James H. Windrim won at age 27. The Masons laid a massive, ten-ton granite cornerstone on St John the Baptist Day, June 24, 1868. Roughly 10,000 members attended and, the members reported, nearly 14,000 marched in a parade to commemorate the event. Another lavish celebration took place during the Temple dedication five years later on Friday, September 26, 1873. However, all told, the historic Masonic Temple took twenty years to complete as it took another fifteen years to finish the interior design. Nationwide Freemason membership declined throughout the twentieth century; membership has plunged seventy-five percent since 1959. The imposing and highly ornate Temple in Philadelphia speaks to the impact and mystique that once surrounded Freemason societies.

A National Historic Landmark, the Masonic Temple in Philadelphia is one of the most architecturally significant Free Mason buildings in existence. The building was constructed in 1873 and attracts thousands of visitors to tour the building inspired by multiple centuries of historically significant events that have occurred here. The Temple is still in use today as the main headquarters of the Pennsylvania branch of the Masonic Great Lodge.

Masonic Temple (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)

Born in Philadelphia in 1842, Anna E. Dickinson was the youngest of five children. She was raised in a Quaker family and her father was an ardent abolitionist. In 1844, while campaigning against slavery, her father gave an impassioned speech but died of a heart attack soon after. As a result, Anna's mother raised the children on her own, homeschooling Anna until she was old enough to attend the Friends Select School of Philadelphia, followed by Westtown Boarding School. By age fifteen, Anna began working as a schoolteacher and transcriptionist. During the 19th century, middle- and upper-class women were expected to abide by a "cult of domesticity," adhering to virtues such as "piety, chastity, and submissiveness," while accepting that their place was in the home, not the public sphere. However, Anna Dickinson refused to abide by these societal norms and instead sought to make a place for herself by advocating for public causes, finding her voice on the stage. While still a teenager, she began giving public lectures that soon drew audiences by the thousands, as she spoke at important venues throughout the Northeast.From a young age, Dickinson had absorbed the ideas of William Lloyd Garrison, embracing his fervent commitment to ending slavery, much as her own father had dedicated himself to the same cause. She wrote an essay for Garrison's anti-slavery newspaper, The Liberator, when she was just thirteen, which established her future course. A few years after the publication of the article, she embarked on a speaking tour in Boston, and then throughout the state of Massachusetts and New England. Her public speaking engagements brought in a modest income, which she used to support her family.Although Dickinson initially became one of the first female employees at the U.S. Mint, she was fired from the position when she openly spoke out against Union policies during a public meeting, even criticizing the Union General George B. McClennan. Thereafter, she devoted herself to public causes, while becoming friends with the Quaker abolitionist, Lucretia Mott, who was rallying the Quaker community to anti-slavery efforts. As a white female abolitionist, Dickinson took inspiration from figures such as Mott, and also from Black female campaigners, such as Sojourner Truth, whose denouncement of slavery helped open up a space for other women to enter the public discourse and speak out, whether on the public stage or through writing and publishing.Dickinson was nineteen when she embarked on a public lecture tour sponsored by the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society. She also gave a speech in Philadelphia titled "The Rights and Wrongs of Women." In this controversial speech, she argued that women should condemn slavery not only because they had a moral responsibility to end injustice, but also because women were the intellectual equals of men and were therefore capable of making reasoned, persuasive arguments. During her first appearance in New York City in her early twenties, she spoke to a crowd of 5,000 people at the Cooper Institute, a prominent venue now known as the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Art and Science.In 1964, Dickinson became the first woman to speak in front of Congress, for which she received a standing ovation. She advocated for securing equal rights for African Americans and preserving the Union, yet she also did not hesitate to question President Abraham Lincoln, who was present at the speech. For her commitment, she was given the moniker, "Joan of Arc of the Civil War." A few years later, Dickinson wrote a novel titled, What Answer?, which was set during the Civil War and depicted an interracial marriage. Later, she also attempted to write and perform in plays, but her plays were not taken seriously because she was a woman, receiving much criticism. Still, at the height of her public speaking career, Dickinson was earning as much for her lectures as the acclaimed American author, Mark Twain. Twain attended one of her lectures and described the experience in a California newspaper article:<blockquote>“She talks fast, uses no notes what ever...never hesitates for a word, always gets the right word in the right place, and has the most perfect confidence in herself. Indeed, her sentences are remarkably smoothly-woven and felicitous. Her vim, her energy, her determined look, her tremendous earnestness, would compel the respect and the attention of an audience, even if she spoke in Chinese..."</blockquote>Following her commitment to abolitionism, Dickinson later campaigned on behalf of women's rights and universal education. At first, she diverged from the views of fellow women's rights advocates and contemporaries, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. Dickinson wanted to focus on securing voting rights for African American men, rather than campaigning for female suffrage, as this would have only been limited to white women at the time. However, she later embraced universal female suffrage. When the completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869 made it possible for her to give public lectures throughout the country, she traveled with a U.S. congressional committee to San Francisco, visiting the Rocky Mountains along the way. A photograph shows her stepping off a train platform in Cheyenne for a breath of air. Following the public lecture she gave in that city in June 1869, a Cheyenne newspaper stated unequivocally that "Mrs. Stanton is the salt, Anna Dickinson is the pepper, and Miss Anthony the vinegar, of the modern women’s rights movement.”

This historical marker acknowledges the life of the abolitionist Anna E. Dickinson (1842 - 1932), who was born in Philadelphia to a Quaker family. In addition to her commitment to ending slavery, she was a campaigner for women's rights and universal education, an advocate for labor and prison reform, and the first woman to address Congress. On the public lecture circuit, she spoke to thousands of listeners at prominent venues such as the Cooper Institute (Cooper Union) in New York City. In 1864, in the midst of the U.S. Civil War, she gave an impassioned speech to the House of Representatives and to President Abraham Lincoln, in which she voiced her support for the preservation of the Union while also pressing for equal rights for African Americans. As a white woman, Dickinson was influenced by other white abolitionists such as Lucretia Mott and William Lloyd Garrison, and by Black abolitionists such as Sojourner Truth and Frederick Douglass. She did not hesitate to defy the expectations that were placed upon her as a middle-class woman in the nineteenth century, in which she was expected to remain within the home. Instead, she confidently carried her message to the public sphere. For her deep commitment to the abolition of slavery, she was often called "Joan of Arc of the Civil War."

Anna E. Dickinson Historical Marker

Soon after its founding, the academy had no permanent home and held exhibitions in a building of the Ionic Order that was built in 1806 and existed at the site of the American Theater at Chestnut and 10th Streets. Its first art museum opened there in 1807 and its first exhibition took place in 1811, which included over 500 sculptures and paintings. Unfortunately, the building was severely damaged by fire in 1845. By 1868, the academy was looking for a new home and raised enough funds to construct one at its current location, which was built between 1871 and 1876. Furness and Hewitt melded elements of Second Empire and Renaissance and Gothic revival within the building. Initially praised, it fell out of favor in the early 20th century and was criticized as too ornate and complicated. It is now recognized as a Philadelphia masterpiece and one of Furness’s finest works.The academy gained prominence when it hired alumni, Thomas Eakins, to teach there in 1876. He ascended to the academy’s directorship in 1882 and altered its curriculum to allow for more independent study which gave its students greater artistic freedom. The academy was also progressive in that it began to offer training to women beginning in 1844. Women of this era had few opportunities to study and learn artistic techniques in a formal, educational setting. The academy continued to expand those opportunities by opening classes to women in 1860 and they eventually attained leadership positions after 1868, hiring its first female instructor, Catherine Drinker, in 1878.From 1811-1969 the academy held annual exhibitions from which it acquired many of its current works, and its acquisitions and exhibition programs are still transforming and adding to its collection. The museum’s exhibitions are no longer only held on an annual basis, but are ongoing throughout the year and feature one every year that displays the works of current students. Past exhibitions have included, “Happiness, Liberty and Life? American Art and Politics,” as well as “World War I and American Art.” As for its collection, it features artists such as Cecilia Beaux, Winslow Homer, Edmund Tarbull and members of The Eight, to include devotees of the Ashcan School, Robert Henri and John Sloan. Its modern and contemporary collection features works by Jennifer Bartlett, Alex Katz, and Frank Stella, among others.In 2002, the academy purchased the adjacent property at 128 N. Broad. It is now the Samuel M. V. Hamilton Building. It moved its School of Fine Arts at the Academy there in 2006. The Hamilton Building is also home to the Fisher Brooks Gallery and Portfolio, the museum’s gift shop.

The venerable Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts was founded in 1805 by painter Charles Wilson Peale, sculptor William Rush and other artists and business leaders. Its current home, designed by American architects Frank Furness and George Hewitt, was completed in 1876. The building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971 and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1975. In addition to the academy’s school, it also houses its art museum that displays both historic and contemporary works from the 1760s through the present.

Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts

The meetinghouse has served as the home to the Hicksite Sect of the Society of Friends since 1856. They have been in the Cherry Street area since they broke from the Arch Street Meeting house back in 1827 over ideological differences. That original Cherry Street meetinghouse no longer stands. However, the “Hicksites” as they were called, finally reconciled with the “orthodox” Quakers of Arch Street in 1955.The house was originally divided into two meeting rooms as Quaker business meeting were segregated by gender until 1926. The south meeting room was then used for social gatherings and serves that function to this day. Both rooms are surrounded by balconies, or “youth galleries” on three sides. The meetinghouse is now part of the larger Friends Center Campus that includes national offices and the Greater Philadelphia Chapter of the United Nations Association. The campus was completely renovated in 2009 and designated a LEED Platinum site that is fossil-fuel free and produces zero carbon emissions. The modern addition now houses the offices of many non-profit organizations.The meetinghouse gained its National Historic Landmark status due largely to the role women played in promoting and spreading various social movements beyond its boundaries. To that end, the Friends have added a statue of Quaker martyr, Mary Dyer, who was hung in Boston in 1660 in an attempt to overturn anti-Quaker laws adopted by the colony. Dyer represents a long tradition of female activism within the Society of Friends. Long before other religious denominations, the Quakers promoted female equality and women played key roles in the affairs of the church. They were, from the beginning, allowed to contribute during meetings and worship services on equal footing with men, and were ordained as Quaker ministers. These policies proved to many Quaker and non-Quaker women that they could also contribute to the larger society outside the confines of the meetinghouse.One such woman was Lucretia Mott, who was quite active at the Race Street Meetinghouse and eventually became an ordained minister. She spoke and preached there on numerous occasions and went on to become a leading member of the abolitionist and women’s rights movements. She travelled to and spoke at various other meetinghouses, was a collaborator with William Lloyd Garrison, founded the Female Anti-Slavery Society and spoke at the Seneca Falls Convention on Women’s Rights in 1848. She was active until her death in 1880.

The Race Street Friends Meetinghouse, which was built in 1856, now, ironically, fronts Cherry Street. The site has been in continuous use by the Religious Society of Friends, or Quakers, for over 150 years. The site was converted into the Friends Meeting Center when a modern addition was built in 1975 while still maintaining the integrity of the original meetinghouse. The meetinghouse played a significant role in the social movements of both the 19th and 20th centuries, to include the abolition, women’s rights, temperance, peace and civil rights movements. And, not surprisingly to the Quakers, women, such as Lucretia Mott, Hannah Clothier Hull, Alice Paul and Jane Rushmore, who were associated with Race Street, led the way. Group tours are available by appointment and it was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1993.

Race Street Friends Meetinghouse

Freedom, cast in bronze, is twenty-foot-long and eight-foot-high and weighs 7,000 pounds. Frudakis, who drew inspiration from Rodin's Gates of Hell when designing the sculpture, sought to incorporate several figures demonstrating the process of breaking free from various types of constraints. The face speaking the words "Freedom," from which the sculpture derives its name, is a mirrored reflection of the artist's face. Similarly, one can see a casting of Frudakis' hands within Freedom, produced by artist Duane Hanson.Frudakis explained in an article with Sculpture Review in 2020 that a universal desire exists to break free, whether it be achieving freedom through the creative process, overcoming an internal struggle, or escaping a difficult circumstance. Thus, onlookers can relate to the statue based on their personal quests to achieve freedom.Frudakis stated: "Although there are four figures represented, the work is one figure moving from left to right. The composition develops from left to right, beginning with a kind of mummy/death-like captive figure locked into its background. In the second frame, the figure, reminiscent of Michelangelo's Rebellious Slave, begins to stir and struggle to escape. The figure in the third frame has torn himself from the wall that held him captive and is stepping out, reaching for freedom. In the fourth frame, the figure is entirely free, victorious, arms outstretched, completely away from the wall and from the grave space he left behind. He evokes an escape from his own mortality."

"Freedom," by artist Zenos Frudakis, is a Philadelphia-based public art display housed on the side of the former GlaxoSmithKline building in Philadelphia. Completed in 2000 and dedicated on June 18, 2001, the work showcases the figure of a man in four transformative movements that represent his journey from bondage to freedom. Frudakis' sculpture was commissioned by Francesca Shaughnessy, a former psychologist with the Philadelphia School District, and was dedicated in October of the same year.

"Freedom," by Zenos Frudakis

In the center of Logan Square is The Swann Memorial Fountain, also known as The Fountain of the Three Rivers, which features a central geyser that gushes more than 50 feet high.&nbsp;Three bronze Native Americans recline among soaring jets of water.&nbsp;The fountain was designed by architect Wilson Eyre, Jr., who collaborated with sculptor Alexander Stirling Calder. He is the second of three generations of Calders whose sculpture can be found in Philadelphia. Calder’s father, Alexander Milne Calder, designed the statue of William Penn atop city Hall. His son, Alexander “Sandy” Calder, was famous for his modernist mobiles, one of which is on the Penn campus right outside Meyerson Hall.&nbsp;The Swann Memorial Fountain was built in memory of Dr. Wilson Cary Swann, the founder and president of the Philadelphia Fountain Society, which provided sources of fresh drinking water throughout the city. Calder titled his sculptural ensemble&nbsp;“The Fountain of Three Rivers”&nbsp;and adapted the time-honored allegorical motif of a reclining nude river god to the region's geography and Native American history. The three figures at the center of Swann Fountain represent the three rivers of Philadelphia: the Delaware River - represented by powerful male figure reaching above his head to grasp his bow as a large pike sprays water over him, the Schuylkill River–represented by mature woman holding the neck of a swan, and the Wissahickon River – represented by young girl leaning on her side against an agitated.When Philadelphians gathered the day after the fountain’s opening, on July 24, 1924, it was one of the hottest days of that year. These gatherings were customary at the time — from 1921 to 1924, thousands of residents gathered weekly during the summers for an evening of what were called “open-air dances.” Despite the sweltering heat, Philadelphians would come together in the streets surrounding Logan Circle, dancing the tango to the music of the police band. An Evening of Tango at the Swann Memorial Fountain seeks to reimagine this wonderful Philadelphia pastime of a bygone era.The Swann Fountain is just one piece in Philadelphia’s remarkable collection of outdoor art, which also includes the LOVE statue and Oldenburg’s giant clothespin just west of City Hall. Philadelphia has more public art than any city in the country, with the greatest number of outdoor sculptures and public murals in the U.S.

The magnificent Swann Memorial Fountain (1924) was created by Alexander Stirling Calder, as a tribute to Dr. Wilson Cary Swann, founder of the Philadelphia Fountain Society.  The fountain sculpture consists of three large Native American figures symbolizing the area's major bodies of water. The young girl leaning on her side against an agitated swan represents the Wissahickon Creek, the mature woman holding the neck of a swan symbolizes the Schuylkill River, and the male figure reaching above his head to grasp his bow ‐ the Delaware River. The fountain is located at Logan Square, Benjamin Franklin Parkway at 19th Street. 

Swann Memorial Fountain

Created for “The encouragement and cultivation of the sciences and the advancement of useful learning.” the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia grew quickly after its founding in 1812. Its founders sought to gather together fellow naturalists from the area to expand the scope and credibility of American science. It was modeled after natural science societies of Europe and was incorporated by the Pennsylvania legislature in 1817. By 1820 it was the leading natural science academy within the U.S. and it opened its doors to the public in 1828. Its earliest members included the likes of Titian Peale, Charles Pickering and Thomas Jefferson who was a corresponding member. It later came to include John Audubon, Thomas Henry Huxley and Charles Darwin (another corresponding member) among its members.As it as grown, so too as its research departments and vast collections. It conducts research in the fields of botany, entomology, and vertebrate paleontology among others. Its Patrick Center for Environmental Research, founded in 1948, is involved with biogeochemistry, fisheries, and phycology. The academy’s groundbreaking Center for Systematics and Evolution studies the diversification of living forms and the relationships they develop over time.As for the academy’s public half, its collection of specimens has grown to over 17 million while its library and archives contains hundreds of thousands of journals, volumes, illustrations, and photographs. The academy’s museum is perhaps best known for its Dinosaur Hall whose star attraction is a full-size, 42-foot, Tyrannosaurs Rex. The hall also features over 30 other species, of which half are full skeletal mounts, as well as dinosaur eggs, footprints, and murals. It also permits children of various ages to become archaeologists in its Big and Little Digs area.Other permanent exhibits include its tropical butterfly garden, which contains 20-40 different species at any one time; and its 37 dioramas, most of which were built between the 1930s and 50s and are divided into North American and African and Asian Halls. The academy also contains exhibits devoted to mollusks and its unique What Eats What that examines the food chain and energy flow of a small stream. Its Library Gallery always has on display its double-elephant-sized, original copy of John Audubon’s The Birds of America. And its We Wrote the Book exhibit rotates many of its more famous volumes written by prominent academy members. The academy also hosts rotating exhibits and past ones have included Dinosaurs Unearthed, Treasures from the Mineral Vault, and Frogs: A Chorus of Colors.

The academy was previously known as the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia until 2011, when it became affiliated with Drexel University. It was founded by leading Philadelphia naturalists in 1812 and is the oldest natural science and research institution in the Western Hemisphere. It has been in continuous operation for well over 200 years and its current home, located just across the street from Logan Square, was built in 1876. It is now divided into a public natural history museum and world-class research facility.

Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University

The Franklin Institute was originally founded in 1824 by Samuel Merrick and William H. Keating as the Franklin Institute of the State of Pennsylvania for the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts. In conjunction with the movement to enact educational reform in America and to help the nation progress through technology, the Institute was opened as a center to honor the memory of Benjamin Franklin and to continue to develop his inventions in innovative ways. The Institute, for its first century after its founding, served this purpose by providing classes in mechanics, engineering, and drafting in order to help bring science and invention into the forefront of those attending. Additionally, the Institute housed numerous technological exhibitions in this span of time.The Institute shifted gears in 1930, attempting to raise money in order to expand and build a memorial hall and a science museum. Despite the financial toll the Great Depression had on the United States, the Institute raised $5.1 million, which allowed them to begin construction for the planned expansions. In New Year’s Day of 1934, the Franklin Institute opened itself to the public as a museum of science, allowing its patrons hands-on experiences that allowed them to learn about the world around them. Over time, the Institute continued to expand, adding to itself the Tuttleman IMAX Theater, and the Fels Planetarium, one of the oldest planetariums in this hemisphere. Additionally, the Institute houses the Benjamin Franklin National Memorial in honor to its titular scientist and Founding Father.Today, the Franklin Institute still works to serve the community by providing hands-on scientific learning experiences for those who walk through its doors. In it, visitors may find exhibits on such topics as King Tut, neuroscience, traveling exhibitions, and other world-class exhibits. In addition to serving as a memorial and a museum, however, the Franklin Institute provides grants to researchers it deems worthy, and also publishes scientific papers to further research and knowledge within the scientific community.

Founded in 1824 as the Franklin Institute of the State of Pennsylvania for the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts, the Franklin Institute is one of the oldest centers dedicated to science education and progress in the United States. In the Institute’s founding days, it offered classes on mechanics, engineering, and other such fields of scientific study in order to broaden people’s understanding of and engagement in the sciences. After a century of activity, the Institute became a museum in 1934 in order to expand its vision of promoting the sciences. Today, the Institute still serves that goal as a museum, reaching out to those who wish to learn through exploring exhibits, attending classes, and much more. Additionally, one may find in the museum’s rotunda the Benjamin Franklin National Memorial, which sports a 20-foot-tall marble statue of the scientist and Founding Father.

The Franklin Institute

State legislator and captain of the last "colored" unit in the Pennsylvania Militia, Samuel Beecher Hart, sponsored a bill in the 1920s to erect a memorial African American service members. Enough funds were collected by 1927 and that year the governor appointed a commission of five members, all of whom were African Americans, to oversee the project. They selected Schweizer, who who was from Switzerland and had created several other monuments in the state.The debate about where the memorial was to be located revealed blatant racism in the city at the time. Understandably, Hart believed it should be placed in a prominent location and Schweizer suggested here along what is known as the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. The city's Art Jury (the predecessor to the Art Commission) rejected the request, claiming that the memorial was "mediocre" and instead recommended another location, Fitler Square. However the neighborhood surrounding the square was inhabited by mostly working class Irish-Americans who did not the want the memorial (one landlord said that his building had “very desirable tenants living in these apartments, and we feel that such a statue opposite the apartments would cause us a loss of tenancy”). Neither did the African American community who thought the area was wholly unfit for such a memorial. In the end, the parties involved reached a compromise and the memorial was erected in 1934 in a remote spot in West Fairmount Park.It remained there for several decades despite the efforts of Hart's granddaughter, Doris Jones Holliday, and others who worked to have it relocated to a worthy location. It was finally moved here in 1994 thanks to the work of the Committee to Restore and Relocate the All Wars Memorial, which raised funds for its restoration and relocation.The full text of the plaque is as follows:TO COMMEMORATE THE HEROISM AND SACRIFICE OF ALL COLORED SOLDIERS WHO SERVED IN THE VARIOUS WARS ENGAGED IN BY THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THAT A LASTING RECORD SHALL BE MADE OF THEIR UNSELFISH DEVOTION TO DUTY AS AN INSPIRATION TO FUTURE GENERATIONS THIS MONUMENT IS DEDICATED MAY 30TH, 1934

Created by artist Jakob Otto Schweizer in 1934, the All Wars Memorial to Colored Soldiers and Sailors commemorates Pennsylvania's African American service members who served for the country in wartime. It is located prominently in the north end of Aviator Park next to the Logan Square traffic circle. It consists of finely detailed sculptures of African American military men who cluster about an allegorical figure representing Justice, who holds symbols of Honor and Reward. Above, American eagles surround a torch of life. The other side features four allegorical female figures representing the principles of war, liberty, peace, and plenty. First placed in West Fairmount Park, this work was moved here in 1994.

All Wars Memorial to Colored Soldiers and Sailors

In 1891, Dr. William Pepper spearheaded a project to gain a charter for a free library in Philadelphia. He initially received $225,000 via inheritance from his wealthy uncle, George S. Pepper. However, several existing libraries also claimed the bequest, resulting in a legal battle over the funds. After the litigation ended, the library finally opened in March 1894. The Free Library's first location comprised three cramped rooms of Philadelphia's City Hall before moving to the city's old Concert Hall eleven months later. Still, Library officials criticized the Concert Hall facility as unsuitable, unsafe, unsanitary, and overcrowded. Nevertheless, the Free Library occupied Concert Hall from February 1895 to December 1910. Although planning on the now-historic Parkway Central Library Building began in 1911, World War I and various other obstacles prevented its construction until 1927; it opened to the public on June 2, 1927. Officials commissioned architect Julian Francis Abele, the first black graduate of what is today the School of Design. After graduating from Penn in 1902 with his degree in architecture, Abele spent three years in Europe mastering his craft before starting his career in Philadelphia with the Horace Trumbauer firm in 1906; he advanced to the position of chief designer in 1909. In 1938, Abele took over the office after Trumbauer's death. The company designed such Philadelphia buildings as the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Free Library of Philadelphia, and many mansions. The firm also designed buildings at Penn and Harvard. Despite Abele's skills, excellent reputation, sophistication, and accomplishments, racism limited the public recognition of his role. Indeed, racial prejudices discouraged him from visiting Duke University, which he designed, and he had to wait until 1942 to gain admission into the American Institute of Architects.The library building Abele designed also serves as the city's Free Library hub as the organization built numerous neighborhood libraries. Many of the branch libraries were funded by philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, who donated $1.5 million for neighborhood library construction in 1903. Carnegie (1835 -1919) developed into one of the wealthiest industrialists (a steel magnate) of the Gilded Age. His tenuous relationship with laborers and the poor included violent strikebreaking efforts tied to the 1882 Homestead Steel Strike. Carnegie eventually turned his focus toward charity, donating a substantial portion of his wealth to public projects. His well-documented philanthropy amounted to $333 million (ninety percent of his fortune), which primarily funded community projects and public buildings, especially libraries. Although many of his laborers wondered what good books were to those working twelve hours a day, six days a week, Carnegie wrote in his 1889 book, The Gospel of Wealth, "In bestowing charity the main consideration should be to help those who help themselves." Thus, $57 million of Carnegie's wealth went towards constructing more than 2,500 libraries. Today, the Free Library comprises Parkway Central Library, three large regional libraries, forty-nine neighborhood libraries, several community "Hot Spots," the Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, the Regional Research and Operations Center, and the Rosenbach. In 2019, a more than ten-year renovation project ended, resulting in an additional 41,000 square feet of public space.

Julian Abele, an influential and acclaimed African-American architect, designed the neoclassical Parkway Central Library Building, which opened in 1927. The genesis of the library dates back to the 1890s, then known as the Free Library of Philadelphia; the first library building opened in 1895. The building is the hub of a free-library network that includes more than fifty facilities, many of which were funded by Andrew Carnegie.

Parkway Central Library (Free Library of Philadelphia)

In the early 1900s, wealthy chemist Albert C. Barnes began studying and collecting works of art for his own personal collection. Some of the works he obtained for himself included the likes of Renoir and Picasso, and he worked to get the best of those works that he could. In 1922, however, Barnes decided to transform his personal collection into the Barnes Foundation, a center for education in Merion, Pennsylvania. It was not completely open to the public, however; visitors were allowed into the Foundation, but they were not nearly as important as Barnes’ intended guests: students.Barnes’ vision for the Foundation was to be an educational facility on art for students of all ages. In order to foster this vision, Barnes wrote up a will that was primarily about how the Foundation was to be preserved after his death. These main conditions included restrictions on public admission in order to keep the Foundation as close to a learning facility for students as possible, and also prohibited the loaning of, reproductions of, touring of, or exhibitions of the Foundation’s collection. Above all else, the Foundation was to continue to bring education to those students willing to attend, and the collection was to be kept in the same location as it was originally founded. Barnes kept his vision of the Foundation alive until his death in 1951.In the decades after Barnes’ death, his conditions were slowly broken, apparently in the best interests of the Foundation. Public access was allowed more frequently, parts of the collection were sent on world tours to raise money for the Foundation, and, perhaps the most controversial of these moves, the Barnes Foundation was moved from its original building in Merion to a new location in Central City, Philadelphia. Although many were opposed to the move, and many legal battles were brought up concerning the future of the Foundation, it was ultimately given a new location, despite Barnes’ initial vision. Today, the Barnes Foundation still holds a great collection of artistic works and is open to the public.

The Barnes Foundation was established by Albert C. Barnes in 1922 to “promote the advancement of education and the appreciation of the fine arts and horticulture.” Originally located in Merion, Pennsylvania, the Barnes Foundation now resides in the heart of Philadelphia. The Foundation holds one of the finest collections of Post-Impressionist and early Modern paintings, with extensive works by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Paul Cézanne, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Henri Rousseau, Amedeo Modigliani, Chaim Soutine and Giorgio de Chirico, as well as American masters Charles Demuth, William Glackens, Horace Pippin and Maurice Prendergast. In addition, the Barnes houses a number of artistic works in different media, such as Old Master paintings, important examples of African sculpture and Native American ceramics, jewelry and textiles, American paintings and decorative arts and antiquities from the Mediterranean region and Asia.

Barnes Foundation

The Rodin Museum owes its existence primarily to Philadelphia native Jules Mastbaum (1872–1926). He began his career at the renowned Gimbel Brothers department store. (His two sisters both married sons of Gimbels' founder, Adam Gimbel.) After a brief stint in the real estate business, Mastbaum and his brother decided to invest in the burgeoning motion picture business. In 1905, they opened their first theater in a small storefront in Philadelphia. By the mid-1920s, The Motion Picture Company of America (renamed the Stanley Company of America following Stanley Mastbaum's death), stood as the nation's largest movie theater operation, operating more than two hundred and fifty cinemas; Jules Mastbaum became known internationally as "the king of cinema."The exceeding success of Mastbaum's cinema business allowed him to turn his interest in art into becoming a serious collector by the 1920s. In September 1924, he visited the fledgling Musée (Museum) Rodin in Paris and acquired a small bronze bust by Rodin. By 1926 Mastbaum owned more than two hundred of the artist's sculptures; Jules also purchased from Rodin six hundred drawings and a small group of marbles and plasters. Some of Rodin's bronze sculptures, like the towering The Gates of Hell, were cast specifically for Mastbaum. In 1926, Mastbaum wrote to the commissioners of Fairmount Park that he wished to make his collection freely available to the public; he requested land for which to build a museum. The commission granted him a vacant lot on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway where Mastbaum made plans to build, at his own expense, a museum, and garden in which to display Rodin's sculptures. He hired the French landscape architect Jacques Gréber, who had conceived the overall design of the Parkway almost a decade earlier, and French architect Paul Cret (French, 1876–1945), a professor of architecture at the University of Pennsylvania, to design the site. The museum planning coincided with the opening of the Free Library of Philadelphia (1927) and the Philadelphia Museum of Art (1928) along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. Sadly, Mastbaum died suddenly on December 7, 1926, before the project's groundbreaking. Etta Mastbaum and his three daughters oversaw the construction of the building before transferring the building and collection to the City of Philadelphia; the city requested the Philadelphia Museum of Art to undertake its oversight. The Rodin Museum opened to the public on November 29, 1929, in the presence of several dignitaries including the French Ambassador to the United States Paul Claudel (French, 1868–1955). At the dedication ceremony, the city presented Etta Mastbaum with a ribbon of the Chevalier of the French Legion of Honor. More than 390,000 people visited the museum in its first year of operation. The collection has been enhanced through individual gifts and purchases, including a plaster of Eternal Springtime originally presented by Rodin to the Scottish poet Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894); a plaster model of a naked Honoré de Balzac (1799–1850); a rare wax study for a monument to the French Revolution that Rodin never pursued; and a marble of the deeply moving Young Mother in a Grotto.Recent renovations have allowed the museum with its impressive ensemble of Beaux Arts architecture, an elegant formal French garden, and sculptures a grand experience for its visitors. Over the years, several large sculptures originally installed outdoors were taken inside to protect them from the elements, and the original plantings became overgrown. The inaugural installation of the restored Rodin Museum includes nearly thirty works focusing on the towering bronze doors inspired by Dante's Divine Comedy that have occupied the building's portico since 1929. In 1880 Rodin received a commission to create The Gates of Hell for a new decorative arts museum that was going to be built in Paris. Though the museum was never realized, The Gates became the seminal work of Rodin's career and a key to understanding his artistic aims. Left in plaster at Rodin's death in 1917, the first bronze casts of The Gates of Hellwere made for Jules Mastbaum, the founder of the Rodin Museum; one appears here and the second was given to the Musée Rodin in Paris. Some of Rodin's most famous works were originally conceived as part of The Gates and were only later removed, enlarged, and cast as independent works. The Thinker evolved from the focal point atop The Gates into a freestanding sculpture. Though the monumental-sized Thinker maintains its prominent place in the garden, a smaller version can be seen in this gallery. Also on view is Copy of Rodin's "The Kiss", a marble depicting doomed lovers Paolo and Francesca, who reside in the second circle of hell in The Divine Comedy. Created especially for the Museum by sculptor Henri Gréber (French, 1855–1941), Copy of Rodin's "The Kiss" suits the main gallery of the Rodin Museum exceptionally well and demonstrates Mastbaum's vision for the Museum as a place where the breadth of Rodin's work, hardly noticed in Philadelphia at the 1876 Centennial Exposition, could become more widely known and appreciated.

Philadelphia emerged as the first city in the United States to exhibit works by Auguste Rodin when, in 1876, the young French artist sent eight sculptures to the Centennial Exposition held in Fairmount Park. However, he left without any awards, and the media paid little attention to his work, leaving Rodin disappointed with his American debut. Little did he know at the time that Philadelphia would later house one of the greatest single collections of his work outside of Paris. The Rodin Museum also exists as the legacy of movie-theatre magnate and one of the city's prominent philanthropists, Jules E. Mastbaum. He amassed an exceptional collection of Rodin's work, and then spearheaded the project that became the Rodin Museum. Open to the public in 1929, this remarkable ensemble of architecture, landscape, and sculpture, provide visitors with a unique experience featuring every phase of Rodin's work.

Rodin Museum

Throughout his career, which spanned from the early 1870s until the early 1910s, Eakins painted several hundred portraits, usually featuring his friends, family, or prominent artists, scientists, medical professionals, and theologians. In addition to his artwork, Eakins attended Jefferson Medical College to study anatomy and went on to teach anatomy and painting at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. However, his fascination with the human body in its purest form got him in trouble. Eakins' deemed nudity as an essential element of academic study, which did not please Philadelphia's Victorian-minded society. In January 1886, lecturing about the pelvis to a class that included female students, Eakins removed a male model's loincloth in order to trace the course of a muscle. Far less progressive-minded portions of the academic community protested, forcing him to resign. Nevertheless, his artistic pursuits and success continued, and his passion for the human form returned by the 1880s when he returned to the subject of athletics, notably boxers, wrestlers, and rowers, gaining him much acclaim. Overall, his work conveys the history of Philadelphia's intellectual life and culture during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The oval named for Eakins, and its many features, are the work of the city parks department and Fairmount Park Conservancy. Eakins' namesake plaza features three fountains, the centerpiece being a sculpture dedicated to George Washington, which possesses its own unique history. In 1783, at the City Tavern in Philadelphia, The Society of the Cincinnati of Pennsylvania was founded to commemorate War of Independence veterans; George Washington served as the society's president from 1783 - 1799. On Independence Day in 1810, the organization decided to create a memorial to General George Washington. However, it took nearly an entire century for the memorial to come to fruition. The monument is constructed in three zones or levels, each representing a different concept. Washington (the hero) sits at the top level while allegorical figures depicting his time are on the middle section and, finally, flora and fauna at the lowest layer. The four figures and the animals overlooking the pools at the base represent four great waterways of America: Mississippi, Potomac, Delaware, and Hudson. The monument was unveiled on May 5, 1897, in Fairmount Park, with President McKinley in attendance for the dedication ceremony. The Eakins Oval's physical design and roadway configuration have changed substantially since its original design as a bonafide oval with tight radii that slowed traffic and maintained a symmetrical plan. Additionally, following the completion of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in 1928, officials moved the Washington Monument to its present location at the terminus of the thoroughfare in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. In 1957, the city stretched the oval and smoothed its curves, resulting in a high-speed traffic circle whose byproduct consisted of a disorganized public space with a surface parking lot in the center. Since 2013 "The Oval," a seasonal pop-up, eight-acre park with community programming, events, and activities, was founded at Eakins Oval (at the center of the Ben Franklin Parkway). With The Oval's focus on family-friendly fun, the pedestrian-friendly urban oasis is within walking distance from Parkway's cultural attractions, including the Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Barnes Foundation, and The Franklin Institute.

Located on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, directly in front of the beautiful main building of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Eakins Oval is a traffic circle surrounded by public spaces, fountains, monuments, and public art. The circle gets its name from famed Philadelphia painter Thomas Eakins (1844-1916), a realist painter, photographer, sculptor, and fine arts educator generally regarded as one of the most influential artists in American art history. Moreover, Eakins' work, taken en masse, offers an overview of Philidelphia's intellectual life during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Today, the public space hosts "The Oval," a an eight-acre seasonal pop-up park with community programming.

Eakins Oval

Beginning with the Oscar winning film Rocky in 1976, the steps became widely known as The Rocky Steps after they played a significant role in a popular Philadelphia-based six-movie series. In a now-legendary scene from the first Rocky film, the title character, Rocky Balboa (played by Sylvester Stallone), finishes a grueling training run by ascending the steps’ daunting heights and exulting at the top, arms raised triumphantly, to the tune of “Gonna Fly Now”. The Rocky steps appeared in a four of five sequels.Before Rocky III, released in 1982, Stallone commissioned A. Thomas Schomberg to create a bronze statue of Rocky. After filming for the movie completed, Stallone donated the statue to the City of Philadelphia. The statue is located at the bottom of the outside stairs at the Philadelphia Museum of Art—the famous steps Stallone was filmed running up and down. Gaze at the vista of the city from the majestic building.Rocky was the first sports film to win an Academy Award for Best Picture. In 2006 it was ranked fourth on the American Film Institute’s 100 Most Inspiring Movies of All Times.

The 72 stone steps before the entrance of the Philadelphia Museum of Art in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania have become known as the "Rocky Steps" as a result of their appearance in the triple-Oscar-winning film Rocky and four of its sequels, Rocky II, III, V and Rocky Balboa, in which the eponymous character runs up the steps to the song "Gonna Fly Now". The statue of Philly boxer Rocky Balboa is located at the bottom of the stairs, and was created by A. Thomas Schomberg in1980. The Rocky Statue and the “Rocky Steps” are two of the most popular attractions in Philadelphia.

The Rocky Statue and Steps

Joan of Arc was a peasant girl living in medieval France. She believed she could save her country, France, from the English conquerors during the Hundred Years' War. With no military training and acting under divine guidance, Joan secured the confidence of Dauphin (later King Charles VII) and led the French army in a momentous victory at Orleans in 1429. After seeing the prince crowned (King Charles VII), she was captured by the English and their French collaborators, tried for witchcraft and heresy, and burned at the stake in 1431, at the age of 19. The Maid of Orléans (as she was known) had long been considered national heroine and an enduring symbol of French unity and nationalism. On May 16th, 1920 she was canonized by Pope Benedict XV.The original statue of Joan of Arc for Paris was commissioned in 1874 by Napoleon III, intended to help in re-establishing French confidence after the humiliating military defeat of 1870 by the Prussian army. Emmanuel Frémiet, French sculptor, had earned a reputation for his work incorporating human and animal motifs in the neo-realistic manner. To develop the memorial to the French heroine, Frémiet studied the design of fifteenth-century French armor and dress in order to convey the figure within her historical context. The statue was installed at the place where Joan was wounded, Place des Pyramides in Paris.In 1889, when the members of the French community in Philadelphia wanted to commemorate their centennial, they arranged to purchase a cast of the original, Place des Pyramides Joan of Arc statue from the artist. They made a contract with the artist that there would be only three cast of this sculpture: the one in Place des Pyramides, the one in Philadelphia, and another one in France in the town of Nancy. The Philadelphia sculpture was purchased with the help of the Fairmount Park Art Association and was first installed on the eastern approach to the Girard Avenue Bridge Bridge on the Schuykill River. The original dedication took place on November 15, 1890. In 1959 the sculpture was gilded and moved to its present location near the Philadelphia Museum of Art by the Fairmount Park Art Association. In 2009, it was removed to repair a crack and re-gilded and returned to its current spot in 2010.

Joan of Arc Statue is a gilded bronze equestrian sculpture of Joan of Arc by Emmanuel Frémiet. Bought by the Fairmount Park Art Association in 1890, the monument was at first placed at the east end of the Girard Avenue Bridge. Unappreciated at that location, it was moved to its present one in 1959, after being given its gilt coat in the basement of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The sculpture represents Joan of Arc, a heroine of France and a Roman Catholic saint, astride a horse. Her proper right hand is raised and she holds up a flag in her proper right hand. In her proper left hand she holds the reins. She is crowned with a laurel wreath and clothed in armor. A sword hangs by her proper left side. The horse is walking with its front, proper left and rear, proper right hooves raised.

Joan of Arc Statue

<div>The Museum began as a legacy of the great Centennial Exhibition of 1876, held in Fairmount Park. At the conclusion of the celebrations, Memorial Hall--which had been constructed as the Exhibition's art gallery-- remained open as a Museum of Art and Industry "for the improvement and enjoyment of the people of the Commonwealth".</div><div>In the first few decades, the collections consisted of objects of an industrial nature, as well as fine and decorative art objects such as European ceramics. Books were also among the Museum's earliest acquisitions, as were antique furniture, enamels, carved ivories, jewelry, metalwork, glass, pottery, porcelain, textiles, and paintings. </div><div>In the early 1900s, the Museum published its first collection handbook and initiated an Education program for the general public. It wasn't long before a Membership program was in place, and plans for a new building gained momentum in the following decade.</div><div>Director Fiske Kimball set the tone for a new era in the 1920s, and the opening of the new building on Fairmount--what is now the Main Building--opened with an attendance record of one million visitors in its first year. Valiant marketing efforts and the skillful leadership of President J. Stogdell Stokes helped to keep the Museum vital during the Great Depression of the 1930s, while the 1940s witnessed extraordinary growth in the collections with a number of important gifts--including the John D. McIlhenny Collection and the George Grey Barnard Collection. </div><div>Acquisitions of the 1950s, such as the Louise and Walter Arensberg Collection and the A.E. Gallatin Collection, assured the Museum's prominence as a place in which to see masterpieces of early modern art. A number of period rooms were opened to the public as well, and the decade even saw the gift of Grace Kelly's wedding dress following her royal 1956 wedding to Prince Rainier III of Monaco. </div><div>Conservation of objects and the renovation of the building were themes of the 1960s, with major gifts including The Mr. and Mrs. Carroll S. Tyson, Jr. Collection, The Samuel S. White III and Vera White Collection, 71 objects from designer Elsa Schiaparelli, and Marcel Duchamp's enigmatic Étant donnés. Renovation was a continued theme in the 1970s, as the institution prepared for grand celebrations in honor of the Museum's Centennial and the nation's Bicentennial. </div><div>The 1980s witnessed still more growth, with acquisitions ranging from Edgar Degas’s After the Bath to Cy Twombly's Fifty Days at Iliam. During the 1990s, the Museum made great technological strides as it prepared to leap into the 21st century. Many operations became computerized, greater energy-saving measures were implemented, and new enhancements and re-organization projects were seen both inside the galleries and outside on the grounds. </div><div>The Museum transitioned into the new millennium with ease, and continued to navigate the changes that the first decade would bring with grace and strength. Now, with an astonishing history behind it, the Philadelphia Museum of Art is poised to meet the decades to come as one of the nation's foremost destinations in which to see world-class art.</div>

The Philadelphia Museum of Art is among the largest art museums in the United States. It has collections of more than 227,000 objects that include world-class holdings of European and American paintings, prints, drawings, and decorative arts. The Perelman Building opened in 2007, and houses some of the more popular collections, as well as the Museum's library, with over 200,000 books and periodicals, and 1.6 million other documents.

Philadelphia Museum of Art

This bronze statue of businessman and philanthropist Stephen Girard, sculpted by J. Massey Rhind, was originally installed on the plaza outside City Hall in 1897. The work was relocated to the Art Museum in 1977. Born in Bordeaux, France, Stephen Girard (1750-1831) came to Philadelphia in 1776 and made immense fortunes in shipping, banking and real estate that combined to make him the wealthiest American of his time. Stephen Girard left approximately 80% of his estate to create Girard College, a boarding school for financially-disadvantaged students which still exists today. It was the largest private charitable donation in American history to that point. This statue was dedicated at City Hall on May 20, 1897, Girard’s 177th birthday, in honor of the approaching 50th anniversary of Girard College, which opened in 1848. The money for the statue was raised by subscription, chiefly from Girard alumni, and 1766 alumni and current students marched in a mile-long parade to the dedication.  Like Stephen Girard, the sculptor J. Massey Rhind (1860-1936) was an immigrant. Scottish born, he came to America in 1889 and had a flourishing practice in architectural and monumental sculpture. He was chosen for the Girard project out of twenty-five sculptors who submitted initial sketches. Stephen Girard never sat for a portrait during his lifetime, so later representations are reliant on written accounts, as well as works commissioned shortly after his death, including an 1832 oil portrait by Bass Otis and an 1833 marble sculpture by Nicolas Gevelot. Massey depicts Girard in a casual pose, holding his glasses in his proper right hand. Girard was blind in his right eye from birth or early childhood. The base of the sculpture features Girard’s life dates on the front and a dedication on the back to “Philadelphia's Greatest Philanthropist/ Erected By Alumni of Girard College And The People Of This City And Commonwealth/ 1897” The remaining two sides of the base feature bas relief plaques: one shows Girard as a mariner and merchant with his ship “The Water Witch”; the other is a tribute to his philanthropy, showing a scene in front of the main building of Girard College. Inside the figure are two sealed copper tubes, containing a copy of Girard’s will, documents and photos relating to Girard College and the statue, and newspapers of the day.

This bronze statue of businessman and philanthropist Stephen Girard, sculpted by J. Massey Rhind, was originally installed on the plaza outside City Hall in 1897. The work was relocated to Reyburn Plaza in 1928 and later to the Art Museum. Born in Bordeaux, France, Stephen Girard (1750-1831) came to Philadelphia in 1776 and made immense fortunes in shipping, banking and real estate that combined to make him the wealthiest American of his time.

Stephen Girard Statue

In the late 18th century, Philadelphia had a higher population than any other city in America. Like all crowded cities, it faced the dangers of fires and epidemics, particularly since it lacked a water distribution system. After a yellow fever outbreak in 1793 killed one fifth of Philadelphia's population (see Lazaretto Quarantine Station for more on the epidemic), Philadelphia became the first city in the world to consider water distribution as a municipal system. In 1798, the Watering Committee of was formed by the Philadelphia Select and Common Councils, charged with the task of providing potable water for the city. Centre Square Works, engineered in 1801 by Benjamin Henry Latrobe and his assistant Frederick Graff, consisted of two steam-powered pumping stations built to draw water from the Schuylkill River to Centre Square (where City Hall now stands). However, the tanks were not large enough to keep up with the demands of the rapidly growing city.Frederick Graff was appointed Superintendent of the works in 1805, and designed the buildings and technology of Fairmount Water Works on the east bank of the Schuylkill to supplement the older Centre Square system. The first Fairmount Water Works buildings were constructed beginning in 1812 and were operational three years later. The Federal-style Engine House held two steam engines (one in operation and one as backup in case the first failed), one a low pressure Bolton &amp; Watts style built in part at Eagle Works in Philadelphia and the other a high pressure Columbian engine built at the Mars Works in Philadelphia. The engines pumped water 96 feet up to the two million gallon reservoir atop Morris Hill (or Faire Mount, now occupied by the Philadelphia Museum of Art). Five water mains transported water from the reservoir into the old Centre Square system, powered simply by gravity as the water flowed down the hill into the city. The original pipes were hollowed-out logs, delivering fresh water to homes and fire hydrants.In 1818 and 1821, boiler explosions caused three deaths and financial setbacks to an already expensive (nearly $31,000 per year) and overtasked system. Following the first of the boiler explosions, the city decided to build a dam across the fast-flowing Schuylkill at Fairmount to provide water power to the pumping station. In 1819, Philadelphia purchased the water rights at the six-foot Falls of the Schuylkill from Josiah White and Joseph Gillingham. The 1,204-foot long crib dam, 270-foot earthen mound dam, millrace and head arches, and canal locks were designed by Ariel Cooley and constructed by 1821 with the help of the Schuylkill Navigation Company. At the time, it was the longest dam in the world, crossing the river diagonally and creating a six-mile long lake behind it. The crib dam consisted of hemlock logs filled with stone and planked over with oak, which were attached to one another and to the rock bed of the river, as well as the stone pier connecting it to the earthen dam, which was 15 feet higher and crossed a portion of the river where 11-foot thick mud prevented the anchoring of a crib.Thanks to the dam, water was redirected into a set of forebays behind the millhouse, which was designed by Superintendent Graff with advice from millwright Thomas Oakes. The neoclassical millhouse held eight pumps and eight water wheels (installed individually from 1822 and 1843), each fifteen feet wide by sixteen to eighteen feet in diameter, as well as tempiettos at each end of the building, one for the Watering Committee Building and one as a Caretaker's House. Each wheel spun at around 14 revolutions per minute, with a capacity of up to 121.4 gallons of water per revolution. About 30 gallons of water through the wheels was needed to pump one gallon up to the reservoir; the excess rejoined the natural flow of the river below the dam. The cost of pumping dropped so dramatically with the switch from steam to water power that the Fairmount Water Works became the most profitable business in Philadelphia. In 1835, the Engine House was remodeled to create a public saloon with a new porch overlooking the river, and the grounds were landscaped and decorated with sculptures by Philadelphia artist William Rush, as well as fountains and promenades. The following year, three new reservoirs were added to Morris Hill. After the death of Superintendent Graff in 1846, his son, Frederick Graff, Jr. took over operations.At high tide, twice a day, the Schuylkill River flowed backwards, filling the wells of the water wheels and stopping them for hours at a time. Replacement in 1851 of the vertical wheels with horizontal wheels powering Jonval turbines, unaffected by changes in the flow of the river, solved the problem. A new area between the Engine House and millhouse was built for the gear train for the turbines, as well as an engine room below the Engine House terrace. A new reservoir at Corinthian Avenue required the construction of a standpipe in 1852, and a New Mill House at the mound dam was built from 1859-1862 in order to accommodate three larger Jonval turbines, under the instruction of engineer John Birkenbine. The Old Mill House was also remodeled to house three additional turbines installed between 1868 and 1872; Frederick Graff, Jr. built, in the same year, a classical pavilion based on a drawing made by his father in 1820. The crib dam was replaced 38 feet beyond its original line and a pier was built to link it with the mound dam, but the original cribs remain in place to this day.None of these measures could address the mounting problem of pollution in the Schuylkill River, however, which had concerned the city as early as the 1840s. As a precaution, the city had purchased land upriver of the Water Works to prevent industrial development, and soon after the end of the Civil War, Fairmount Park was created to protect the water quality of the river. Beginning in 1866, a series of surveys sought new water sources for the city of Philadelphia. An 1868 law proposed to increase fines for industrial pollution of the Schuylkill as far as Norristown from $100 to $1,000, but businesses petitioned against the legislature. In spite of the efforts of the city and the water company, pollution of both the Schuylkill and Delaware Rivers increased steadily. The waters ran Black, and tens of thousands of Philadelphians died of typhoid fever and cholera epidemics between the 1870s and the beginning of the 20th century. In 1905, the Purity of Waters Act prohibited sewage pollution of Pennsylvania waterways, though without a sewage treatment plant, it would be the 1950s before such pollution of the river ended. Meanwhile, the city of Philadelphia constructed water filtration plants, eliminating bacteria and chlorinating the water supply. When the plants were completed in 1909, Fairmount Water Works was decommissioned. The property went to the Mayor for use as a Public Aquarium in 1911, and all the machinery except for an 1851 Jonval turbine and pump was removed by March of the following year. The reservoirs were drained, replaced by the Philadelphia Museum of Art, constructed beginning in 1919. The standpipe and distribution arch were removed during the following decade.The Water Works buildings served as the Philadelphia Aquarium from November 1911-1962, with the lone Jonval turbine in the former Engine House providing water to the tanks. By the 1920s, the aquarium was one of the four largest in the world. The Engine House served as an office building with a lecture hall containing tanks from the 1893 Chicago and 1905 St. Louis Fairs. Freshwater tanks were housed in the Old Mill House and saltwater tanks in the New Mill House. The forebay became a winter home for seals from New Jersey. After the aquarium closed in December of 1962, the Water Works buildings were converted for use as the John B. Kelly Pool, which served competitive swimmers and Philadelphia students as a practice facility. The efforts of Susan Meyers and the Junior League of Philadelphia in the 1970s led to the restoration of the Water Works as a historic site, and the passage of the Clean Water Act in 1972 led to the Philadelphia Water Department's need for a permanent educational facility on public stewardship of urban watersheds. It was decided in 1974 that the Water Works would be restored as a recreational and educational facility with an emphasis on its historic utility.Fairmount Water Works was declared a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1975, a National Historic Landmark in 1976, and a National Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark in 1977. Archaeological investigations on both the Water Works and the dam began in the 1970s and are ongoing. The Fairmount Dam, now maintained by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, has been rebuilt in concrete. Though it is no longer used for water power, the dam still holds the water supply for the city's Belmont and Queen Lane Pumping Stations. The six-mile lake held back by the dam, known as the Schuylkill Pool, allows space for the Boathouse Row based Schuylkill Navy and Philadelphia Canoe Club. The original locks on the west bank were demolished in 1950, but a portion of the guard lock wall remains. Environmental legislation led to significant reduction of pollution of the Schuylkill, which became Pennsylvania's first Scenic River in 1978 and a National Heritage Area in 2000. The restored Old Mill House and Engine House have served since 2003 as the Fairmount Water Works Interpretive Center, which chronicles the 200 year history of Philadelphia's water supply and houses interactive exhibits and participatory labs on water quality. Classes for schoolchildren and public lectures are also held in the interpretive center, which doubles as the Delaware River Basin's Official Watershed Education Center and the Gateway Center for the Schuylkill River National and State Heritage Area. The Fairmount Water Works is also the repository for urban watershed research and the Philadelphia Water Department's green management solutions for the treatment of storm water. In 2006, the Water Works Restaurant and Lounge opened in the Engine House and Caretaker's House. The South Garden (originally designed by Frederick Graff in 1829) and Cliffside Path were restored to an 1875 landscape, including the restored Marble Fountain (out of order for over 115 years), 1848 Gothic-style Graff Memorial, and bust of Frederick Graff, with reproduction light fixtures, benches, and railings added. The cast-iron railings along the Cliffside Path to the Philadelphia Museum of Art were recreated and the path repaved and stabilized.Marker Inscriptions:Fairmount Dam: The steam engines originally used to pump river water up to the Reservoir were dangerous and expensive to operate. Because of this, the Watering Committee decided to convert the Water Works to water power. The Fairmount Dam was built to achieve this goal. / Located to your right, the dam crosses the Schuylkill River at an angle. It diverted the river from its natural channel into the Forebay, now filled-in. At 2,008 feet, this innovative dam was the longest in the United States when completed in 1821. It was designed by Massachusetts engineer Ariel Cooley. / In addition to providing water power, the dam created a pool of calm, pond-like water stretching five miles upriver. The "Fairmount Pool" has been popularly used for boating and recreation from the 1820s to the present.Fairmount Water Works: Centerpiece of Philadelphia's water system, 1815-1909. The neoclassical buildings, designed by Frederick Graff and Frederic Graff, Jr., concealed huge machines that pumped Schuylkill River water to a reservoir above, whence it flowed to the city. Power was originally supplied by Oliver Evans' high-pressure steam engine, the largest of its day. After 1821 the pumps were driven by breast wheels; after 1851, by turbines.

Fairmount Water Works, dating to 1812, was declared a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1975, a National Historic Landmark in 1976, and a National Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark in 1977. The Fairmount Dam, originally constructed in 1821, is no longer used for water power, but still holds the water supply for the city's Belmont and Queen Lane Pumping Stations. The restored Old Mill House and Engine House have served since 2003 as the Fairmount Water Works Interpretive Center, which chronicles the 200 year history of Philadelphia's water supply and houses interactive exhibits and participatory labs on water quality. Classes for schoolchildren and public lectures are also held in the interpretive center, which doubles as the Delaware River Basin's Official Watershed Education Center and the Gateway Center for the Schuylkill River National and State Heritage Area. The Fairmount Water Works is also the repository for urban watershed research and the Philadelphia Water Department's green management solutions for the treatment of storm water. In 2006, the Water Works Restaurant and Lounge opened in the Engine House and Caretaker's House. The South Garden (originally designed by Frederick Graff in 1829) and Cliffside Path have also been restored and are open to the public.

Fairmount Dam and Water Works

The statue depicts Lincoln signing the Emancipation Proclamation. After the Union's victory at Antietam in September 1862, Lincoln issued a preliminary decree stating that freedom would be granted to slaves within rebellious states unless they returned to the Union by January 1. Since no Confederate states took the offer, Lincoln presented the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared, "all persons held as slaves within any States, or designated part of the State, the people whereof shall be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free." The proclamation also allowed black soldiers to fight for the Union, which proved hugely beneficial. The Emancipation Proclamation did not free slaves within slaves in states under Union control (notably the border states), leaving Secretary of State William Seward to remark: "We show our symapthy with slavery by emancipating slaves where we cannot reach them and holding them in bondage where we can set them free." But, Lincoln did not want to antagonize the slave states loyal to the Union.Philadelphia was one of the first cities in the nation to erect a monument to Lincoln after his assassination on April 14, 1865. The Lincoln Monument Association, chaired by Mayor Alexander Henry, was formed on May 22, 1865. In a little over a year, they raised $22,000 and commissioned sculptor Randolph Rogers to build the Lincoln Statue. Approximately 50,000 people witnessed the unveiling on September 22, 1871. In 2001, city officials moved the monument from its location on an island amid Kelly Drive to a better pedestrian-oriented location just east of the roadway.The inscription on the front base under the seated Lincoln reads "To Abraham Lincoln – From a Grateful People." On the left side are the words: "I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within the states in rebellion are and hence-force shall be free." On the back, it states: "Let us here highly resolve that the government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth." And finally, on the right side of the base, the inscription reads: "With malice toward none, with charity toward all, with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right. Let us finish the work we are in."

One of the first monuments to Lincoln following his assassination in 1865, the statue depicts President Abraham Lincoln signing the Emancipation Proclamation. The city formed a commission in 1866 that raised funds for the statue, which was formally dedicated on September 22, 1871. The city moved the monument in 2001 to a location away from traffic.

Statue of Abraham Lincoln

Robert Morris, signer of both the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, fell into severe debt by the end of the 18th century and was forced to sell off his land holdings, which included an extensive estate along the Schuylkill River. Part of this estate was purchased at a sheriff’s auction by Henry Pratt. Pratt was a wealthy importer/exporter who owned his own shipping line. He also amassed a significant fortune as a Philadelphia land developer. He designed Lemon Hill and oversaw its construction. It was completed in 1800 on a bluff overlooking the river and historical Boathouse Row. Pratt improved the gardens on his land and opened them up to the public. He used Lemon Hill as a summer retreat until he sold it for the princely sum of $225,000 in 1836, two years prior to his death.The mansion was then occupied by various owners until it became one of the earliest properties purchased by the city, in 1844, in order to create Fairmount Park. The city then leased it out to various entities over the ensuing decades, to include a beer garden, restaurant, candy shop and ice cream parlor. Needless to say, these tenants, and the city, did little to maintain the historic home and grounds, and both fell into disrepair by the start of the 20th century.Luckily, the home came to be occupied by architectural historian and director of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Fiske Kimball, in 1925. He and his wife, Marie, spent the better part of the next two years restoring the home and then maintaining it while they lived there for the next thirty years. In 1957, the commissioners of Fairmount Park gave license to the Colonial Dames of America to use Lemon Hill as their headquarters and a place for public exhibitions. They raised funds and took Lemon Hill through another extensive renovation in 1976 and were joined in their efforts by the Friends of Lemon Hill in 1987. The process of improving the grounds and gardens began in 2002 and is a continuing endeavor.The house itself features three oval parlors, stacked one atop the other. These parlors were constructed with curved fireplace mantles and doors. The home also possesses detailed woodwork, a grand curving staircase, Chinese Chippendale railings and a large, second-floor Palladian window. The Dames have also established themed tours. They include, but are not limited to, “Life and Death in the Early 19th Century” and “Risky Business: Creating (and Losing) Fortunes in America.”

Built from 1799-1801, Lemon Hill Mansion and its grounds were originally part of a 300-acre estate owned by Robert Morris. A 43-acre section, known as “The Hills,” was purchased by wealthy Philadelphia merchant, Henry Pratt, in 1799. This section included a greenhouse that contained lemon trees, and it is from those trees that Lemon Hill derived its name. The house and gardens were purchased by the city in 1844 and the house served as the home of Fiske Kimball, first director of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, from 1925-1955. It is now a historic house museum maintained by the Colonial Dames of America and the Friends of Lemon Hill.

Philadelphia City Hall to the Museum of Art

Aero Memorial

Introduction

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Backstory and Context

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