Franklin Park, Massachusetts

The Franklin Park in the late 19th / early 20th century

The Franklin Park is a partly wooded Park in Boston in the state of Massachusetts of the United States with 527 acres (2.13 km²) expansion. The site spans the Boston neighborhoods of Jamaica Plain , Roxbury, and Dorchester and is administered by the city's Parks and Recreation Department . The Franklin Park is part of the Emerald Necklace system of parks and parkways that in the 19th century by Frederick Law Olmsted was created. It is the largest park in Boston and is home to the Franklin Park Zoo , among others .

general description

When it was developed in the 19th century, Franklin Park was conceived as a landscape park and is the largest and last park in the Emerald Necklace system. Although often neglected in the past, it is still considered the "crown jewel" of Olmsted's work in Greater Boston .

The park was named after the Boston patriot Benjamin Franklin and is very rural in design. Before it was renamed, it was called West Roxbury Park . There is a small wooded area on the site, as well as opportunities for active recreation and sports with 6  mi (10  km ) of road and 15  mi (24  km ) of footpaths and bike paths.

Most of the park is dedicated to the recreation and basic use of the Boston population. The Scarboro Pond and the Ellicott Arch make it the most popular places in the park is, as is the large forest areas. There are also picnic areas, stone bridges, deposits of Roxbury Puddingstone (a locally occurring conglomerate rock ) and old stone ruins, in particular the Long Crouch Woods of Roxbury , also known as the Bear Dens .

The Franklin Park Zoo

The Franklin Park Zoo is located right on the park grounds. It was founded in 1912 and shows animals such as lions , tigers , pygmy hippos , Maasai giraffes , budgerigars , Amur leopards , western lowland gorillas and Grevy's zebras on an area of ​​72 acres (290,000 m²) . One of the most famous attractions at the zoo is the Tropical Forest , which opened in September 1989. The Franklin Park Zoo is the second largest zoo in New England and is ranked just behind the leaders Southwick's Zoo in Mendon .

The Long Crouch Woods

The Long Crouch Woods are on the grounds of the park and used to be the central part of the zoo. The Bear Dens were designed and built in 1912 to display a small collection of native animals. Originally there was a very large staircase that led to a large square around which the steel bear cages were arranged. Inside one of these cages was a detailed stone sculpture of bears and the silhouette of the city of Boston.

However, plans to expand the Long Crouch Woods area at the zoo were never implemented. Over time, the site fell into disrepair, and when the responsible park authority refused most of the funds necessary for maintenance, the Bear Dens could no longer be financed. The exhibition area was therefore officially closed in 1954. In 1958, when the Metropolitan District Commission took control of the area, it was separated from the zoo.

Efforts have been made since 1980 to convert the Long Crouch Woods into a nature reserve , but have not yet been realized. For a long time the area was used for prohibited activities and illegal garbage disposal. The Franklin Park Coalition had the garbage removed in 2002 and received US $ 36,000 in 2007 for necessary materials and hiring professional landscape architects to restore pathways in the area. The project is supported by the work of summer camps for problem children.

Sports ground

There are a number of different opportunities for exercise in the Franklin Park area . These include the William J. Devine 18-hole golf course (the second oldest public golf course in the entire US) as well as tennis courts , baseball fields and basketball fields . The members of the Boston RFC also hold their competitions in the park. There are wide and open spaces that are used for lacrosse and soccer , and there is also the opportunity to play cricket on Sunday evenings .

The park is a famous venue for cross-country races held there year-round by high schools and colleges, including the Massachusetts All-States Meet , which alternates annually with the NCAA Northeast Regional Championship . The competition, which is not currently taking place in Franklin Park, will be held in Van Courtlandt Park in New York City . In Franklin Park there are measured running routes with lengths of 3, 5, 6, 8 and 10 km. In 1992 the IAAF World Cross Country Championships were held in the park on a specially measured 12.5 km course .

There are increasing concerns in the population and city administration with regard to the running events, as damage to nature due to soil erosion and disruption to walkers and cyclists are feared. Since different competitions take place in the park almost every Saturday and also on many Sundays, this topic is controversial.

The playhouse

There is a public area in the park for stage performances known as the Playhouse in the Park . Well-known musicians like Billy Taylor and the Boston Pops have already performed there.

The Schoolmaster Hill

Even before the park was established, a teacher named Ralph Waldo Emerson lived in a small hut on what is now Schoolmaster Hill . He was inspired by the surrounding landscape for his nature poems and essays . There is now a plaque on the hill commemorating Emerson. From there the viewer has an excellent view of the Blue Hills .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Franklin Park. (No longer available online.) In: The Emerald Necklace Conservancy. Archived from the original on November 25, 2011 ; accessed on December 13, 2011 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
2. ^ History of Franklin Park. In: Franklin Park Coalition. Retrieved December 13, 2011 . 
3. ^ Richard Health: Franklin Park Notes . In: The Jamaica Plain Citizen . Citizen Pub. Co., Boston January 22, 1981, OCLC 23547873 .
4. ^ ^{A b} Franklin Park: Heart of Boston. Retrieved December 13, 2011 . 
5. ^ ^{A b} City of Boston - Department of Parks and Recreation: Long Crouch Woods / the Bear Dens. In: Database of Greenspaces and Neighborhoods in the heart of Boston. Archived from the original on September 6, 2006 ; accessed on December 13, 2011 . 
6. ↑ Grantees. (No longer available online.) In: Smith Family Foundation. Archived from the original on September 5, 2007 ; accessed on December 14, 2011 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
7. ↑ Ralph Waldo Emerson. (PDF) The Schoolmaster of Franklin Park. Retrieved December 14, 2011 . 

Web links

Commons : Franklin Park (Boston)  - Collection of Images

• Franklin Park in the United States Geological Survey's Geographic Names Information System
• Emerald Necklace Conservancy website
• Franklin Park Zoo website
• Franklin Park Coalition website

Coordinates: 42 ° 18 ′ 5 ″  N , 71 ° 5 ′ 40 ″  W.