Fairmount Park is the municipal park system of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It consists of 63 parks, with 9,200 acres (3,723 hectares), all overseen by the Fairmount Park Commission.

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Fairmount Park proper

The park system is named after its first park, Fairmount Park, which occupies nearly half the area of the whole system, at over 4,100 acres (17 km²). Today, the Commission divides the original park into East and West Fairmount parks. The original domain of Fairmount Park consisted of three areas: "South Park" or the South Garden immediately below the Fairmount Water Works extending to the Callowhill Street Bridge; East or "Old Park" which encompassed the former estates of Lemon Hill and Sedgley; and West Park, the area now comprising the Philadelphia Zoo and the Centennial Exposition grounds. The South Garden predated the establishment of the Park Commission in 1867 and Lemon Hill and Sedgley were added in 1855-56. After the Civil War, work progressed on acquiring and laying out West Park. In the 1870s, the Fairmount Park Commission acquired industrial properties along the Wissahickon Creek although this is not considered Fairmount Park proper. Likewise the Schuylkill River Trail is a modern addition and was not included in 19th-century acquisitions.

Growth

The park grew out of the Lemon Hill estate of Henry Pratt, whose land was originally owned by Robert Morris, signer of the Declaration of Independence. It was dedicated to the public by City Council's ordinance on September 15, 1855. A series of state and local legislative acts over the next three years increased the holdings of the city, incorporating mansions, waterworks, gardens, and even territory previously set aside for the Zoological Society of Philadelphia. In 1858, the city called for a comprehensive plan and the new Fairmount Park Commission held a design competition to determine the best way to “protect and improve the purity of the Schuylkill water supply” while also creating a naturally landscaped public park.

As the site of the 1876 Centennial Exposition and the first zoo in the United States, the Philadelphia Zoo, Fairmount Park was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on February 7 1972.

Properties

thumb Today, the system includes the Centennial Arboretum, Philadelphia's Horticulture Center, Fairmount Water Works, Rockland, Joshua Fisher's The Cliffs (1753), William Peters' Belmont Mansion (1745), Woodford mansion, Memorial Hall, the Belmont Plateau, Japanese house, Bartram's Garden (America’s oldest living botanical garden), Philadelphia Museum of Art, Boathouse Row, Azalea Garden, recreation centers, reservoirs, and countless statues (as well as other pieces of art) as determined by the park.

Mount Pleasant, built in what was then the countryside outside of the city by a privateer. ^[1] It is now an off-premise gallery of the Philadelphia Museum of Art in Fairmount Park. ^[2]

Allens Lane Awbury Park Bartram's Garden Benjamin Franklin Parkway Bradford Park Burholme Park Carpenter's Woods Carroll Park Christ Church Park Clifford Park Cloverly Park Cobbs Creek Golf Course Cobbs Creek Park East Fairmount Park Fernhill Park Fisher Park Fluehr Park Fox Chase Farm Franklin D. Roosevelt Golf Course Franklin D. Roosevelt Park Franklin Square

Franklintown Park Germany Hill Glen Foerd Harper's Hollow Park Holme Crispin Park Hunting Park I-95 Park John Byrne Golf Course John F. Kennedy Plaza Juniata Golf Course Karakung Golf Course Kay Park Kemble Park La Noce Park Logan Circle Loudoun Park Manatawna Farm Manayunk Canal Marconi Plaza McMichael Park Morris Park

Palmer Park Pastorius Park Penn Treaty Park Pennypack Park Poquessing Creek Park Rittenhouse Square Roosevelt Boulevard Schuylkill River Park Somerton Woods Southern Boulevard Stephen Girard Park Tacony Creek Park Wakefield Park Walnut Lane Golf Course Washington Square West Fairmount Park Wingohockon Park Wissahickon Valley Park Wister's Woods Park Wooden Bridge Run Woodward Pines

See also

• Schuylkill Banks
• Philadelphia Aquarium