Independence Square: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Independence National Historical Park
Jennifer H, Little K, Killion J. 2023. Independence Square: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Independence National Historical Park. Cultural Landscapes Inventory Report. 300192. National Park Service. NPS Northeast Regional Office, Boston, Massachusetts / CRIS-CL Database
Independence Square is part of Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Established in 1948, the park was created to protect the historic places associated with the birth of the American republic, standing as icons of freedom and democratic ideals for people around the world. The park spans more than 51 acres within the City of Philadelphia, preserving and interpreting a rich collection of the country’s Colonial, Revolutionary, and Federal period heritage. The National Park Service has managed Independence Square since 1951 through a cooperative agreement with the City of Philadelphia, who owns the property. Independence Square, originally known as the State House Yard in the late eighteenth century, comprises an entire city bock (520 feet by 420 feet) and is bordered by Chestnut Street (north), South Fifth Street (east), Walnut Street (south), and South Sixth Street (west). Four eighteenth-century brick buildings stand in the northern part of the square, anchored by Independence Hall – a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Site – and flanked by Congress Hall, Old City Hall, and Philosophical Hall. There are also two wing buildings on either side of Independence Hall reconstructed in the late nineteenth century. A brick and concrete forecourt north of Independence Hall borders Chestnut Street, to the north of which lies Independence Mall, a three-block long open space. To the south of Independence Hall, the relatively level square features radial and cruciform bluestone walkways centering on a bronze statue of Revolutionary war hero Commodore John Barry. A mature canopy of deciduous trees shades areas of turf framed by the walkways. Mixed shrub and herbaceous perennial beds border staircases built into the brick Colonial Revival-style perimeter retaining wall that surrounds the square’s east, south, and west sides. During the 1970s small scale features, including non-operating wooden hand-pumps and a watch post building were reconstructed to reflect conditions during Philadelphia’s “Capital City Decade” from 1790 to 1800. Other historic features include sentry watch boxes, a flagpole, cannons, lamps, bollards, and memorial plaques. The Independence Square Cultural Landscape Inventory (CLI) documents the landscape’s location, size, physical development, landscape characteristics, character-defining features, and condition. The information contained in the CLI is compiled from primary and secondary sources and through onsite surveys of the landscape. The CLI includes historic maps, drawings, and images; photographs of existing conditions; and a site plan that indicates major features. The CLI documents the existing condition of park landscape resources and identifies impacts, threats, and measures to stabilize condition. This inventory was completed as part of a national effort to document all cultural landscapes in the national park system. The National Park Service Cultural Landscapes Inventory (CLI) includes landscapes that are listed, or eligible for listing, on the National Register of Historic Places, or are otherwise managed as cultural resources, which the National Park Service has, or plans to acquire, legal interest. The completed inventories are included in the Servicewide Cultural Resources Information System (CRIS-CL) database.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Jennifer, Hanna; Little, Kelsey; Killion, Jeff
- Date of Issue
- 2023
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- INDE , NER
- Keywords
- Abolitionism, American Philosophical Society Hall, Archeology, Architecture, Assembly Area, Astronomy, Capitol, City Hall (Town Hall), Civil Rights Movements, Commemoration, Conservation, Courthouse, Creating Social Institutions and Movements, Development of the Colonies, Early Federal Period 1789-1800, Expanding Science and Technology, Expressing Cultural Values, Georgian (1730-1780), Government Capitol, Historic Designed Landscape, Historic Furnished Interior, Historic Preservation, Historic-Non-Aboriginal, Independence Hall, Intellectual Currents, Landscape, Landscape Architecture, Leisure-Passive (Park), Monument (Marker, Museum (Exhibition Hall), Outdoor Sculpture (Statuary)., Peopling Places, Philosophical Schools Of Thought, Philosophy, Physical Development, Physical Sciences, Plaque), Plaza/Public Space (Square), Political and Military Affairs 1783-1860, Recreation/Culture, Regional Efforts: Mid-Atlantic States 1860-1900: Memorials To The Revolution, Science, Shaping the Political Landscape Political and Military Affairs 1783-1860, Social and Humanitarian Movements, State House Garden, State House Yard, The Constitution, Transforming the Environment, Urban Park, Urban Planning In The Nineteenth Century, Women’s Movement