Welcome to Fairmount Park | Philadelphia Squares

Franklin Square
Logan Square
Penn Square
Rittenhouse Square
Washington Square






	Washington Square is home to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier of the Revolutionary War.

INTRODUCTION TO THE SQUARES

"The soil is good, the air serene and sweet from the cedar, pine and sassafras, with the wild myrtle of great fragrance."

So wrote William Penn in an early description of "Penn's Woods," the emerging colony of Pennsylvania. When he began to design his capital, Philadelphia, he pictured it as "a green country town" with an abundance of trees and gardens.

Though Penn had to compromise to some degree, the 1682 city plan drawn up by his surveyor, Thomas Holme, created five open squares - one at the center of the street grid and one each in the outlying quadrants.

At first the squares simply bore geographical names: Center, Northwest, Southwest, Northeast, Southeast. Later, in the nineteenth century, they were renamed to honor prominent historical figures. These open spaces were not always treated as city treasures. In early years they were used for such practical purposes as pasturage, burial grounds, and cattle markets. But with the exception of Center Square, which became the site of City Hall, they have kept their basic identity through two centuries of urban development - refreshing bits of Penn's Woods in the heart of the city.

Enjoy the Five Squares in the City that represents a piece of what was once Penn's Woods by clicking any of the titles along the left.


	The mission of the Fairmount Park Commission is to preserve and protect the park's open spaces, to provide opportunities for recreation, to maintain the landscapes, structures, streams and woodlands that exist within the boundaries of the park for the health and enjoyment of the citizens. Copyright 2004 Fairmount Park Commission - All Rights Reserved