Penn's Landing | |
---|---|
Coordinates: 39°56′44″N75°08′27″W / 39.94564°N 75.14072°W | |
Country | United States |
State | Pennsylvania |
County | Philadelphia |
City | Philadelphia |
Area code(s) | 215, 267, and 445 |
Penn's Landing is a waterfront area of Center City Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, situated along the Delaware River. Its name commemorates the landing of William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania, in 1682. The actual landing site is farther south, in Chester. The city of Philadelphia purchased the right to use the name. Penn's Landing is bounded by Front Street to the west, the Delaware River to the east, Spring Garden Street to the north, and Washington Avenue to the south, and is primarily focused on the Christopher Columbus Boulevard (Delaware Avenue) corridor.
Development of the area is handled by the Delaware River Waterfront Corporation. The corporation is a non-profit that was established in 2009 to manage the publicly owned land on the central waterfront on behalf of the City of Philadelphia and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Penn's Landing serves as the site for several summertime events in the city. The main public space at Penn's Landing is The Great Plaza, a mostly concrete labyrinth located along the Delaware River at Christopher Columbus Boulevard and Chestnut Street. [1]
Several historic ships are moored at Penn's Landing. The barque Moshulu is a floating restaurant; the World War II-era submarine USS Becuna and the Spanish–American War-era cruiser USS Olympia (C-6) are part of the Independence Seaport Museum; and the barquentine Gazela and tugboat Jupiter are moored there by the Philadelphia Ship Preservation Guild. [1]
The RiverLink Ferry links Penn's Landing with the Camden Waterfront across the river in Camden, New Jersey. [2]
The Blue Cross RiverRink is a skating rink and outdoor event facility located at Penn's Landing. During the winter months it operates as an ice skating rink and hosts the Blue Cross RiverRink WinterFest, featuring winter-themed decorations, fire pits, and an outdoor beer garden. The first Winterfest was held in 2013, [3] concepted by Avram Hornik of FCM Hospitality, who also owns the neighboring outdoor waterfront restaurant, Morgan's Pier. During the summer months, the ice rink is converted into a roller skating rink under the name SummerFest. [4] [ non-primary source needed ]
Spruce Street Harbor Park is one of the main attractions at Penn's Landing. The park has a boardwalk along the Delaware River with a waterfront atmosphere with chairs, tables and hammocks. The park is open only seasonally in the summer or warm months, and closed during the winter.
There are many statues and monuments located in Penn's Landing:
From 1982 until 1995, a heritage trolley line (tramway) operated in Penn's Landing, on weekends and holidays from about April to October each year. Intended to attract tourists and help spur redevelopment of the area, [10] the trolley line was established along a 1.1-mile (1.8 km) section of disused ex-Philadelphia Belt Line Railroad freight railroad track, owned by Conrail, [11] from the Benjamin Franklin Bridge to Pier 51. [10]
Grants from the city and Fidelity Bank funded the installation of overhead trolley wire and supporting poles, along with an electrical substation to provide power. [10] Operation began on September 5, 1982, and was run by volunteers from the Buckingham Valley Trolley Association. The service used historic trolley cars on loan from museums. When not in use, the cars were stored in a building on city-owned Pier 51. [10] The service ran for the last time on December 17, 1995, and the trolley wire and poles were removed by March 1996. [12]
The Delaware River Port Authority is in the process of re-opening the Franklin Square PATCO station. It is being fully re-built to be bought in-line with the rest of the system, including a new headhouse, and accessible concourses and platforms. Construction has not yet commenced, but it is expected to open before 2024. [13] [14] Previously, discussion included re-opening the station and building out a PATCO-operated connection to a re-built trolley route on Delaware Avenue/Christopher Columbus Boulevard. No public discussion has commenced regarding the trolley route and no date has been set. [15]
Samuel Carpenter (1649–1714) bought a lot extending from King Street (now Water Street) to Front Street and on to Second Street in 1683. This lot extends to Ton (now Tun) Alley. On the east side of this lot (Delaware front) he built a wharf, or "a fair key" as mentioned by William Penn, which was the first wharf built in Philadelphia. It became known as "Carpenter's Wharf" and could handle ships of 500 tons or more. [16] Over the years it was expanded, modernized and would now be under Interstate-95 where the highway passes Penn's Landing. [16]
The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) is a regional public transportation authority that operates bus, rapid transit, commuter rail, light rail, and electric trolleybus services for nearly four million people in five counties in and around Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It also manages projects that maintain, replace and expand its infrastructure, facilities and vehicles.
The PATCO Speedline, signed in Philadelphia as the Lindenwold Line and also known colloquially as the PATCO High Speed Line, is a rapid transit route operated by the Port Authority Transit Corporation (PATCO), which runs between Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Camden County, New Jersey.
The Delaware River Port Authority (DRPA), officially the Delaware River Port Authority of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, is a bi-state agency instrumentality created by a congressionally approved interstate compact between the state governments of Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The authority is principally charged to maintain and develop transportation links between the two states with four bridges and a mass transit rail line across the Delaware River. Though the DRPA has "port" in its name, it does not own or operate any ports.
The Commodore Barry Bridge is a cantilever bridge that spans the Delaware River from Chester, Pennsylvania to Bridgeport, New Jersey, in Logan Township. It is named after John Barry, an American Revolutionary War hero and Philadelphia resident.
Interstate 676 (I-676) is an Interstate Highway that serves as a major thoroughfare through Center City Philadelphia, where it is known as the Vine Street Expressway, and Camden, New Jersey, where it is known as the northern segment of the North–South Freeway, as well as the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Highway in honor of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. Its western terminus is at I-76 in Philadelphia near the Philadelphia Museum of Art and Fairmount Park. From there, it heads east and is then routed on surface streets near Franklin Square and Independence National Historical Park, home of the Liberty Bell, before crossing the Delaware River on the Benjamin Franklin Bridge. On the New Jersey side of the bridge, the highway heads south to its southern terminus at I-76 in Gloucester City near the Walt Whitman Bridge. Between the western terminus and downtown Camden, I-676 is concurrent with U.S. Route 30 (US 30).
Transportation in Philadelphia involves the various modes of transport within the city and its required infrastructure. In addition to facilitating intracity travel, Philadelphia's transportation system connects Philadelphia to towns of its metropolitan area and surrounding areas within the Northeast megalopolis.
Lindenwold station is a train station in Lindenwold, New Jersey, United States, served by the NJ Transit Atlantic City Line regional rail service and the rapid transit PATCO Speedline. Lindenwold is the eastern terminus of PATCO; the system's headquarters and maintenance facility are located adjacent to the station in neighboring Voorhees.
'Winterfest' is the name of various winter festivals held in various parts of North America. Winterfest Christmas Trees are produced in Turkey
Franklin Square station is an unused, underground rapid transit station on the PATCO Speedline, operated by the Delaware River Port Authority. It is located under Franklin Square in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Opened on June 7, 1936, the station was the first westbound and final eastbound station in Philadelphia, located just west of the Benjamin Franklin Bridge which carries trains over the Delaware River. The station has been opened for four separate intervals, each time eventually being closed for low ridership. As of 2021, the station is being refurbished and is expected to reopen in April 2024. However, this has been pushed to later in the year.
Pennsylvania Route 3 is a 24.3-mile (39.1 km) state highway located in the southeastern portion of Pennsylvania. The route runs from U.S. Route 322 Business in West Chester east to PA 611 in Philadelphia.
Interstate 95 (I-95) is a major north–south Interstate Highway that runs along the East Coast of the United States from Miami, Florida, north to the Canada–United States border at Houlton, Maine. In the state of Pennsylvania, it runs 51.00 miles (82.08 km) from the Delaware state line near Marcus Hook in Delaware County in the southeastern part of the state northeast to the Delaware River–Turnpike Toll Bridge at the New Jersey state line near Bristol in Bucks County, closely paralleling the New Jersey state line for its entire length through Pennsylvania.
The Electric City Trolley Museum is a transport museum located in downtown Scranton, Pennsylvania, next to the Steamtown National Historic Site. The museum displays and operates restored trolleys and interurbans on former lines of the Lackawanna and Wyoming Valley Railroad, which are now owned by the government of Lackawanna County and operated by the Delaware-Lackawanna Railroad.
Franklin Square is one of the five original open-space parks planned by William Penn when he laid out the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1682. It is located in the Center City area, between North 6th and 7th streets, and between Race Street and the Vine Street Expressway (I-676).
U.S. Route 13 (US 13) is a United States Numbered Highway running from Fayetteville, North Carolina, north to Morrisville, Pennsylvania. The route runs for 49.359 miles (79.436 km) through the Delaware Valley in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The route enters the state from Delaware in Marcus Hook, Delaware County. It continues northeast through Delaware County, passing through the city of Chester before heading through suburban areas along Chester Pike to Darby. US 13 enters the city of Philadelphia on Baltimore Avenue and runs through West Philadelphia to University City, where it turns north along several city streets before heading east across the Schuylkill River along Girard Avenue. The route turns north and heads to North Philadelphia, where it runs northeast along Hunting Park Avenue. US 13 becomes concurrent with US 1 on Roosevelt Boulevard, continuing into Northeast Philadelphia. US 13 splits southeast on a one-way pair of streets before heading northeast out of the city on Frankford Avenue. The route continues into Bucks County as Bristol Pike, heading northeast to Bristol, where it becomes a divided highway. US 13 becomes a freeway in Tullytown and continues north to its terminus at US 1 in Falls Township, near Morrisville. US 13 roughly parallels Interstate 95 (I-95) through its course in Pennsylvania.
The RiverLink Ferry is a passenger ferry service in the United States. The ferry crosses the Delaware River, connecting the Camden Waterfront, in Camden, New Jersey, with Penn's Landing, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The ferry operates daily from May through September, and on Fridays through Sundays in April and October. Primarily, the system provides tourists with a means to reach waterfront attractions. The service carries over 200,000 passengers per year and first turned a profit in 2006.
The Benjamin Franklin Bridge, originally named the Delaware River Bridge and known locally as the Ben Franklin Bridge, is a suspension bridge across the Delaware River connecting Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Camden, New Jersey. Owned and operated by the Delaware River Port Authority, it is one of four primary vehicular bridges between Philadelphia and southern New Jersey, along with the Betsy Ross, Walt Whitman, and Tacony-Palmyra bridges. It carries Interstate 676/U.S. Route 30, pedestrians/cyclists, and the PATCO Speedline.
The Philadelphia Belt Line Railroad owns a 2.66-mile (4.28 km) long railroad line running along the Delaware River waterfront in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was created in 1889 to allow any Philadelphia railroad to access the waterfront. The railroad, which does not operate any trains itself, is currently maintained by Conrail Shared Assets Operations and used by CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern Railway.
Columbus Boulevard is a major north-south thoroughfare in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is famous for being the location of the Penn's Landing area and is generally parallel with Interstate 95 south of the Benjamin Franklin Bridge. The road extends south towards Pattison Avenue and is home to many big box retailers between Snyder Avenue and Oregon Avenue.
The Philadelphia Korean War Memorial at Penn's Landing in Philadelphia was initially dedicated on June 22, 2002 and was formally rededicated on Memorial Day, May 28, 2007 after additional work was completed. Each name of the more than 600 servicemen who were killed in action or listed as missing in action during the Korean War from Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia counties are etched in the memorial. Veterans Day and Memorial Day services are held onsite annually.
One Port Center is an office building in Camden, New Jersey located in the Camden Waterfront. The building, opened in 1996, was designed by Michael Graves and is headquarters to the Delaware River Port Authority.