Fairmount Park
Fairmount Park is Philadelphia's municipal park system. It consists of 63 parks, with 9,200 acres (3,723 hectares). It is overseen by the Fairmount Park Commission.
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. They stretch along the banks of the Schuylkill River from South Street in south Philadelphia to City Avenue (West Philadelphia’s northern boundary) and along the banks of Wissahickon Creek from the southeastern corner of Manayunk to the northwestern corner of the city. On the south end, the park connects with the Schuylkill Banks and on the north end, Valley Forge National Historical Park. ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Growth
The park grew out of the Lemon Hill estate of Henry Pratt and was dedicated to the public by the City Council by government 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 Centennial Exposition of 1876 and the location of the first zoo in the United States, the Philadelphia Zoo (1874), Fairmount Park was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on February 7, 1972.
The Fairmount Area is also host to the Fairmount Sports Association baseball league.
Properties
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), 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 Fairmount Park Art Association.
The 63 neigborhood and regional parks are:
