This little scrap, this little gem, is caught somewhere in the wilds of historic Old City- specifically Franklin Square. There is "Old City", which includes, you know, a cracked bell, an old document declaring our independence, an old-timey soda shoppe, and Betsy Ross' house. Then there are is the old city that surrounds the actual old stuff; one of those faux old things is Franklin Square. There is a carousel, mini-golf, a playground, a burger shack, and a giant fountain. Perhaps I am being unfair: maybe mini-golf is wildly historic. Maybe B. Franks was wandering around Philly with his little glasses and balding head, looking for dudes to play mini-golf with. "Ben", they probably groaned, "you have inventing to do and women to hit on. Shove off! We're very busy defining liberty. Go draw a snake or something". There's some history you never learned in school.
Back to Franklin Square: historicphiladelphia.org really lays it all out for you on the website when it says, "Franklin Square is one of Philadelphia’s five original squares - and the only one dedicated just to fun!" Listen historic Philadelphia, playgrounds are for heathens; I am not trying to go to playgrounds when I am trying to get my learn on, mainly because security chases me away from monkey bars I am obviously too old for. Old City is for being afraid of pigeons, aggressive throngs of tourists, and stewing in heavy summer heat/slipping on icy winter days. Fun should be found in the form of long plaques for dedications, waiting in lines to see old crap, and throwing your money away by the fistful as you buy things you don't need. And now both Old City and Franklin Square are for finding weave and emailing them to someone with a weave-related blog.
Despite my hesitations to immediately throw my love into Franklin Square, it should be noted the history of this area does not move in a straight trajectory, it waxes and wanes. The area wavered between important in the eyes of the elite, or a pitiful waste of space to be ignored and left for the impoverished.
The square is one of the five open-air squares that was designed by William Penn; originally called Northeast Square, Franklin Square was renamed in 1825 to honor Benjamin Franklin, one of the most prominent Founding Fathers of the United States and a leading printer, scientist, inventor, civic activist, diplomat, and original gangster.In the early years, the space was actually very interesting: it was used to store gun powder during the American Revolution, it was an open common used for grazing animals, and parts of the space were used by the German reform church as a cemetery. Take a minute to picture that combination: grazing animals, gun powder, and corpses. History at its finest, I'd say. Some people think the square was the site of Franklin's original "kite and key" fiasco, but I like to think he was smarter than to do that sort of thing around gun powder and dead bodies and the like.
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, Franklin Square was at the center of a fashionable neighborhood in which to live. But beginning in the 1920s, a series of events corresponding with the rise of the automobile began the decline of the Square and its surrounding neighborhood. The construction of the Ben Franklin Bridge, from 1922–26, leveled blocks of row homes, shops and other structures; the Bridge begins at the Square’s eastern boundary, 6th Street. The steady flow of cars over the bridge made Franklin Square’s northern boundary, Vine Street, into one of the city’s busiest thoroughfares, effectively cutting off pedestrian access on two of the Square's sides. And this is not a joke. Anyone who has ever tried to cross streets around Franklin Square knows that you can look left and then right/right and then left anywhere between 6 and 31 times. You can gingerly begin to place one foot gently on the street, but as soon as you begin to settle your weight, a car will careen down an off-ramp from the expressway at a speed that should only be used for when a pregnant woman has gone into labor in the backseat. So I like to assume that each car that whizzes by me so fast that I get whiplash is carrying a woman to the hospital so she can give birth in a sterilized environment.
Jane Jacobs, architecture writer, called Franklin Square "skid row park" in 1961. The neighborhood’s residential character was further eroded when the federal government established Independence Mall. The government acquired private land around the Square in the 1950s and 1960s and demolished blocks of homes and other buildings. The construction of the Vine Street Expressway in the late 1980s exacerbated the problem. Franklin Square became the least-used of Penn’s original five squares, and served mainly an encampment for the homeless.I wonder how many times the police (who conveniently have a headquarters in Franklin Square) have had to chase off groups of homeless people, who run from the jungle gym, tittering and giggling as they merge into one in the dark night.
It was just 2006 when the park was refurbished and rededicated. That's when playgrounds and mini-golf actually came into being. It was a good change. The space is still accessible and open for all- which can be rare when it comes to having safe fun in a city. It's sort of sad to think that someone was excited that they could go spend time in a park with a faux-history theme that makes you feel like you're learning when you aren't. They were so excited that they lost some of their weave.
All is fair in weaves and park restoration, I suppose.
Well, dear readers, that is all for now. I am being called back to duty cleaning floors and setting out homemade cookies for new guests arriving soon.
Remember: if you find weave, please take a picture and email it to tumblingweavenation@gmail.com
Send the picture, the city or town or community, and the cross streets where it was found!
Thank you to Sadaya for the picture (and for a short visit back to the East Coast)
Thank you to Jack Johnson and G. Love for "Jungle Gym"
Cited Sources:
http://historicphiladelphia.org/day/franklin-square/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin_Square_%28Philadelphia%29
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