Independence Square - Independence National Historical Park - Philadelphia, PA - NRHP Historic Districts - Contributing Buildings on Waymarking.com

Taken from the nomination form, "Independence Square, the landscaped grounds behind Independence Hall, was known as State House Garden or State House Yard from the mid-eighteenth century, when the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania purchased the land for its new State House, until the 1820s when the building and the ground on which it stood gradually assumed the name Independence Hall and Independence Square. The four acres of flagstone walkways, lawns, and trees now in the Square represent landscaping designs of 1875-76 and 1915-1916. No attempt has been made by the
National Park Service to restore Independence Square to its eighteenth century appearance.
Integral to the Square's interpretation, however, is its 250-year stated use as an open space. On February 20, 1736, the Pennsylvania Assembly provided that the land lying to the south of the State House "be enclosed and remain a public open green and walks forever." At that date only part of the block to Walnut Street had been purchased by the Commonwealth, but by 1769 the balance had been added to complete the Square.
Landscaping for the open green did not get under way until after the Revolution, but by 1770 a seven-foot wall had been built around the square with a tall pedimented gateway with wooden doors and fanlight midway on the Walnut Street side. Around 1784 Samuel Vaughan, a distinguished member of the American
Philosophical Society and an active leader in planning for its new building on the northeast corner of the Square, was also supervising the Square's first major landscaping. Serpentinewalksandawidecentral gravel path were laid from the State House to the
Walnut Street gate, and in the spring of 1785 an assortment of 100 elm trees donated by Col. George Morgan of Princeton were planted, along with other trees andshrubs. InthefollowingtwospringsVaughansawto the planting of more than sixty additional trees in the Square. Although the trees were small, they impressed one visitor as "judiciously arranged," and the variety of their patterns assured that no two parts of the grounds looked alike.
In 1811-12, when the State House wing buildings were re- moved to build modern office buildings, the yard's high brick walls were torn down and replaced with a three-foot wall to improve air circulation. Marble coping and an
iron railing of plain palisades surmounted the wall.
The 1875-76 landscaping again altered the walls by lower- ing them and piercing them in several places with steps, the broadest of which stood at the Fifth and Sixth Street
corners on Walnut Street. At the same time wide flagstone walks were laid across the Square in almost every di-
rection, creating a wheel pattern only slightly modified in the major renovations of 1915-1916 which the Square now reflects. The 1915-16 alterations reduced the number of entrances to the Square from eleven to its current seven two on Fifth and two on Sixth Street, one at each south corner of the block, and one midway on Walnut Street. The City also removed the wall surrounding the yard and re-
placed it with the existing low brick wall and coping; cobblestoned the driveway entrance directly south, of Con- gress Hall; opened the northern section of the wheel landscaping by removing two path spokes; and replaced the circular path pattern around the John Barry Statue in the center of the Square with a cross pattern."

Name of Historic District (as listed on the NRHP): Independence National Historical Park Link to nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com page with the Historic District: [Web Link] NRHP Historic District Waymark (Optional): [Web Link] Address: Philadelphia, PA How did you determine the building to be a contributing structure?: Narrative found on the internet (Link provided below) Optional link to narrative or database: [Web Link]

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