The locked gate of Squirrel Hill Falls park at 48th and Chester.
For years people in West Philly have walked past Squirrel Hill Falls Park on the northwest corner of 48th and Chester and wondered what had happened.
The former vacant lot, which was transformed into a neighborhood gem complete with a mural, solar-powered waterfall, seating, lighting and sound system 15 years ago, is now just a dressed-up, locked-down vacant lot again. But the park’s controversial history will take a turn for the better this week when a group of volunteers will meet there on Sunday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. to clean the lot up and try to make it a park again.
The park was the brainchild of West Philly artist Danielle Rousseau Hunter, whose name is still emblazoned in large letters on the park’s grand metal entrance gate. Hunter raised hundreds of thousands of dollars from a fairly astonishing list of donors (see the full story here and here) to design and build the park, which includes a three-story waterfall mural on the side of an apartment building.
A portion of the waterfall mural now shrouded in overgrown trees. Weeds are starting to overtake the metal benches (in the foreground).
The park opened with a black tie ceremony in September 1996. Since then many residents say Hunter has treated it like her fiefdom, locking it and only allowing visitors to enter under her supervision. But for many years the park has not been used and is now littered with trash and debris and overgrown with weeds. A bicycle cable lock still keeps the front gate closed.
But contrary to popular belief, Hunter does not own the land, the Friends Rehabilitation Program Inc., an affordable housing provider located at 247 S. 48th St., does. One or two people there have taken a renewed interest in the park and have been able to get insurance to again allow limited access. There are no plans for an official “opening” of the park, although if there is community interest more access could be possible in the future.
The first step is Sunday’s clean-up. Volunteers and some equipment, particularly garbage bags and garden disposal bag (the big paper ones) are still needed. There is no need to RSVP or anything. Just show up. They could use the help.
June 26th, 2011 at 8:23 pm
way to go team! what a cleanup effort today! cheers to Keira and Andrew and Steve.
June 26th, 2011 at 9:46 pm
GREAT news!
June 26th, 2011 at 11:54 pm
Thanks everyone who came out near and far, we really appreciate it. We have over 25 people for the effort. I want to especially thank our youngest volunteers who spent their Sunday afternoon doing the best sweep job on the thickest dirt I’ve seen. They were phenomenal!
It all looks great!
June 27th, 2011 at 2:10 am
Back in 2003, my husband, then boyfriend, and I began a whole series of arts workshops and concerts at this park with the support of the local neighborhood association. Although we came across hostility from Ms. Rousseau, we were able to achieve a summer of public access to the park by programming a variety of workshops and concerts that also employed local artists within the community. We also partnered with The Philadelphia Orchestra in bringing community chamber concerts to the park among other spots in the community.
We raised funds from local businesses and garnered the support of the community to access this locked and under-utilized park. We were able to get access and this seemed to stir the pot. I an underhanded move, Ms. Rousseau attempted to high-jack the event through her contacts at local newspapers and took credit for the park and seemingly the event and did not mention our group or our efforts. Her jealous and over-zealous territorial stance concerning the park barred her from forming a friendship with two artists, who wanted to honor and enjoy the park that she had built. What a shame.
We are thrilled to see renewed energy to re-access the park and make use of it and to restore it to it’s initial condition.
We certainly appreciate the park and Ms. Rousseau’s original vision and applaud the ongoing efforts to make this park a true community treasure. That’s what we saw in it and as West Philly residents, we were glad to be a small part of celebrating this jewel of a park.
September 4th, 2011 at 9:24 pm
As a neighbor I was always curious about this park … but after reading this City Paper article about it I feel dirty. It looks like a nice park, but holy frijole! As a question to other Squirrel Hill folks, how do you feel about that park knowing that over $300,000* (that’s 1990s dollars, too) went into the park?
http://archives.citypaper.net/articles/061396/article033.shtml
* $300k is what’s cited in the article, but I’m guessing all of the military involvement (!!!) wasn’t calculated at what it actually cost taxpayers.
September 30th, 2011 at 11:47 pm
This little article about the clean up was a ploy to get free labor. They have to clean up the park each spring just for general maintenance. There are no plans to do anything with this park. I saw the kids who volunteered and they all looked as if they had some sort of hopes for this park opening. I saw the guy in charge, too, the big (edited) liar. I looked right at him and he knew I knew. What a jerk-messing with people’s hopes and time.
October 5th, 2011 at 5:23 pm
This is only slightly related, but isn’t there some kind of small ‘park’ (maybe just a yard to which anyone has access) behind a house on Melville St.? Am I crazy for remembering reading something about that? Anyone have any idea what I’m talking about?