The History of Morris Park
Wistar Morris (1815-1891), member of one of Philadelphia’s most prominent Quaker families and founder of Morris, Tasker & Company in Philadelphia. He was also a director of the Pennsylvania Railroad, president of the Board of Pennsylvania Hospital, and trustee of Haverford College.[i] Upon his passing the Trustees of the estate of Wistar Morris extended an offer to the City of Philadelphia giving them 10 acres of land from his Greenhill estate to establish a park. This offer was conditional that the plans and the work for new roads must be “substantially completed” before December 2nd, 1914. Otherwise the land would revert back to the Trustees.[ii] At the time, the city of Philadelphia and the young Fairmount Park Commission had no use for this small parcel of land so far away from the Schuylkill River, and let it lie. In the early 1900s, Wendell & Holmes donated a small strip of land along 66th Street to enhance the “green” credentials of the new housing development they called Overbrook Farms.
The larger parcel and incentive of improving the land for development purposes may have been the catalyst for the acceptance of the offer 3 years before it’s expiry. The Ordinance creating Morris Park was passed December 2, 1911 in response to an offer made by This ordinance authorized the establishment of 5 tracts of made up of about 160 acres as part of an extension of Cobbs Creek and Morris Park [iii]. The Ordinance conferring the care and management of the newly established Morris Park, located in the 34th ward, to Fairmount Park (rather than the Department of Public Works) was approved a year later on May 27th, 1912.[iv]
Part of Wistar Morris’ Greenhill Estates: Sold to Friends Central in 1925
Fairmount Park Commission Map from 1946 showing the connection of Morris Park and Cobbs Creek Park
It wasn’t until after 1910, when the nearby Cobbs Creek park was dedicated, the Fairmount Park Commission made a concerted effort to buy up the land connecting Morris Park to Cobbs Creek. At that time, developers had acquired the land between Morris Park Road and Malvern Avenue. The city waged a war to seize the land by eminent domain even as the short blocks of Morris Park, Woodcrest, and Lotus streets were being built. The apartment building between Lotus and Morris Park Road was built much later, when the PA Railroad Company collapsed -- they had previously owned the land hoping to build a new railroad through the parcel. In the 1920s, all of the lands we know as Morris Park finally received protection from further development. Unfortunately, these skirmishes contributed to the park’s bad reputation at the time and it was already in disrepair.
In the 1930s, the Works Progress Administration began to develop the western end of the park close to Haverford Avenue. Part of that work including minor landscaping along 66th Street. Despite this beautification public opinion of the park remained lukewarm. In the 1940s, plans to raze the entire park and use the area for an anti-aircraft installation were proposed. In the end these plans fell through because they lacked permanent housing for the soldiers. It was also the voice of the neighborhood that prevented the execution of these plans. The subsequent army encampments that would need to be developed alongside the installation received near unanimous opposition from community members
A suspension bridge across Indian Creek East and a concrete pathway under the Sherwood Avenue road bridge were installed in the 70s, but neither lasted long. Park benches and picnic tables were placed in the “Little Sherwood” floodplain, and quickly washed away. In the 1990’s, the Academy of Natural Sciences was hired to complete a master plan for all of Fairmount Park, but none of their recommendations were ever accomplished in Morris Park.
The Friends of Morris Park’s (formerly The Morris Park Restoration Association) work, is the first time that any organization will have ever accomplished a comprehensive land management plan for Morris Park. To find out more about what we do check out our projects page.
[i] “Introduction.” Morris Collection, 2015, www.morriscollection.librarycompany.org/intro/.
[ii] Annual Meeting City Parks, vol. 26, no. 1, 1947, p. 73., doi:10.7202/300282ar.
[iii] Birkinbine, John. Report of the Water Supply Commission of Pennsylvania: on the Feasibility of Constructing a Storage Reservoir in Pymatuning Swamp, Crawford Co., Pa. The Commission, 1912.
[iv] Journal of the Common Council of the City of Philadelphia, vol. 1, 1913, p. 27