Hal
Sat, 05 Feb 2005 12:07:27 -0800
One other quick follow up - It helps to understand SCHUYLKILL RIVER PARK if you know that there have been plans to extend Fairmount Park downstream to the modern Schuylkill River Park for as long as there has BEEN a Fairmount Park. Fairmount Park along the Schuylkill is a patchwork of acquired property - starting with the land immediately upstream from the Fairmount Waterworks In 1844, the City of Philadelphia purchased the "Lemon Hill" estate, and started figuring out a way to improve the farm into a park, and how to provide access across the Reading RR tracks to get to this new riverfront park FAIRMOUNT PARK AS WATERFRONT PARK http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MA96/forrest/WW/intro.html Note this is roughly contemporary with Olmstead style "Central Park" and other riverfront & converted marshlands -like"Fenway Park" - also note the addition of Sedgley as another "park". Lemon Hill Plan circa 1843 - http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MA96/forrest/WW/wwlemn.gif 1924 WATERFRONT PARK suggestions >From there, people have been figuring out how to extend Fairmount Park south- here's a link to a more recent plan from 1924 http://www.sewerhistory.net/LewisBook/ There are also some sketches on Temple University's "Digital Diamond" of 1950s or 1960's era plans for Schuylkill River Park, which expected to cover over the CSX tracks and create a wide plaza- roughly similar to how the roads and sidewalk all around 30th Street Station is elevated on steel I-beams, high above actual ground level, where the Schuylkill Expressway and the Amtrack trains are. Hal Schirmer Esq. 1805 Ridge Road Sellersville, PA 18960 ---- You are receiving this because you are subscribed to the list named "bike." To subscribe or unsubscribe or for archive information, see <http://www.purple.com/list.html>. See also http://bcgp.blogspot.com/ and http://www.bicyclecoalition.org/
