Girard Fountain Park is a pocket park at 325 Arch St., adjacent to the firehouse. The park was created in the mid-1960s after the demolition of four 3- and 4-story commercial buildings that had stood on the northeast corner of 4th and Arch Streets (1st photo). The firehouse was built on the corner lots, while the lot formerly occupied by 325 Arch became the park. The firehouse houses Engine 8, which traces its roots back to the Union Fire Company, the first in Colonial America, founded in 1736 by Ben Franklin and his friends.
The park was improved in 1976 and again in the early 2000's. The city commissioned local sculptor James Peniston to replace the deteriorated Penny Franklin, a 1971 acrylic sculpture covered with 80,000 pennies donated by schoolchildren, located at the entrance. Peniston responded with Keys To Community, a nine-foot bronze bust that portrays Franklin turning to greet a visitor (2nd). Many of the pennies from the original sculpture were melted down to be cast as part of the new bronze bust of Franklin. The sculptor covered it with casts of 1,000 keys collected from local schoolchildren. The fountain was restored in 2008.
The park is open to the public during daylight hours and is maintained by the Philadelphia Fire Department.
1959, the four building to be torn Keys To The Community History of the Philadelphia
down for the firehouse & park. Fire Department mural
The one labeled 323 still remains. dedicated in 2019.
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