Eakins Oval is a

traffic circle A roundabout is a type of circular intersection or junction in which road traffic is permitted to flow in one direction around a central island, and priority is typically given to traffic already in the junction.''The New Shorter Oxford Eng ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

. It forms the northwest end of the

Benjamin Franklin Parkway Benjamin Franklin Parkway, commonly abbreviated to Ben Franklin Parkway and colloquially called the Parkway, is a boulevard that runs through the cultural heart of Philadelphia. Named for founding father Benjamin Franklin, the mile-long Parkway c ...

just in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, with a central array of fountains and monuments, and a network of pedestrian walkways. This loop of road usually carries a large volume of traffic, as it connects the core of the city with Fairmount Park,

Kelly Drive A kelly drive is a type of well drilling device on an oil or gas drilling rig that employs a section of pipe with a polygonal (three-, four-, six-, or eight-sided) or splined outer surface, which passes through the matching polygonal or spline ...

(formerly East River Drive), and Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive (formerly West River Drive). During parades and other major municipal events such as the Thanksgiving Day Parade, and large concerts such as Live 8 Philadelphia and the Budweiser Made in America Festival, the roadways are shut down to automobile traffic and the oval becomes center stage for the gathering. Eakins Oval was the site of the stage for the

2017 NFL Draft The 2017 NFL Draft was the 82nd annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players. It was held in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art on April 27–29, returning to Philadelphia ...

. The oval was part of urban planner

Jacques Gréber Jacques-Henri-Auguste Gréber (10 September 1882 – 5 June 1962) was a French architect specializing in landscape architecture and urban design. He was a strong proponent of the Beaux-Arts style and a contributor to the City Beautiful movemen ...

's design for the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, which he proposed in 1917. The oval is named for

Thomas Eakins Thomas Cowperthwait Eakins (; July 25, 1844 – June 25, 1916) was an American realist painter, photographer, sculptor, and fine arts educator. He is widely acknowledged to be one of the most important American artists. For the length ...

, Philadelphian, world-famous realist painter, and fine arts educator. The southeastern part of the oval serves as a parking lot; it was originally part of the Parkway until traffic modifications isolated it in the 1960s.

The Washington Monument

Just inside the northwest edge of Eakins Oval, in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art stairs, stands the Washington Monument fountain. It was commissioned and designed by sculptor

Rudolf Siemering Rudolph Siemering (10 August 1835, Königsberg - 23 January 1905, Berlin) was a German sculptor, known for his works in both Germany and the United States. Biography He attended the art academy in Königsberg and then became the pupil of Gusta ...

. The sculpture was dedicated in 1897 at the Green Street entrance to Fairmount Park. It was moved in 1928 to its present location after construction on the parkway was completed. In 1997, work to restore the statue began under the direction of Margo Berg of the Philadelphia Art Commission. Over the years, the sculpture had come loose from its base, and the fountain had ceased to function properly. The restoration was completed in June of the same year, 100 years after it was dedicated. The bronze and granite sculpture features a uniformed

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...

mounted on a horse. Washington and his horse are poised on top of the fountain, facing southeast down the Benjamin Franklin Parkway towards

Philadelphia City Hall Philadelphia City Hall is the seat of the municipal government of the City of Philadelphia. Built in the ornate Second Empire style, City Hall houses the chambers of the Philadelphia City Council and the offices of the Mayor of Philadelphia. ...

. The face of the sculpture was made from an impression of the former president made while he was still alive. The body was actually of a Prussian General. The lowest level of the monument features Native Americans and animals that are native to the United States.

Other fountains

The Washington Monument fountain is flanked by two smaller fountains, honoring

Eli Kirk Price Eli Kirk Price (July 20, 1797 – November 14, 1884) was an American lawyer and politician from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He served as a Whig member of the Pennsylvania State Senate for the 1st district from 1853 to 1855, as commissioner o ...

and

John Ericsson John Ericsson (born Johan Ericsson; July 31, 1803 – March 8, 1889) was a Swedish-American inventor. He was active in England and the United States. Ericsson collaborated on the design of the railroad steam locomotive ''Novelty'', which co ...

Transportation tunnels

Beneath Eakins Oval and the surrounding area run two tunnels, originally for rail traffic, and constructed in the 1920s at the same time as the Oval, the Parkway, and the Art Museum. The lower tunnel, built for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, is owned by successor

CSX CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The railroad operates approximately 21,000 route miles () of track. ...

and carries freight trains on a single track (originally double). The upper tunnel carried streetcars on the Spring Garden Street line ( Route 43) of

Philadelphia Rapid Transit The Philadelphia Transportation Company (PTC) was the main public transit operator in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from 1940 to 1968. A private company, PTC was the successor to the Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company (PRT), in operation since 1 ...

(PRT) and successor

Philadelphia Transportation Company The Philadelphia Transportation Company (PTC) was the main public transit operator in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from 1940 to 1968. A private company, PTC was the successor to the Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company (PRT), in operation since 19 ...

(PTC) until 1956. This double-track tunnel was then completely rebuilt in 1960 to carry two lanes of one-way (westbound only) traffic on Spring Garden from Pennsylvania Avenue to the Spring Garden Street Bridge over the

Schuylkill River The Schuylkill River ( , ) is a river running northwest to southeast in eastern Pennsylvania. The river was improved by navigations into the Schuylkill Canal, and several of its tributaries drain major parts of Pennsylvania's Coal Region. It f ...

; currently only one lane is in use. This tunnel crosses above the CSX tunnel in the middle. Today's Route 43 buses, operated by

SEPTA 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 4 million people in five c ...

, circle the Oval and do not use the tunnel.

Gallery

Image:Image-Detail from Washington Monument in Philadelphia-0.jpg, Detail from the top of the monument, facing southeast. Image:Detail from Washington Monument in Philadelphia-1.jpg, Detail from the southeast side of the monument. Image:Detail from Washington Monument in Philadelphia-2.jpg, Detail from the northeast side of the monument. File:Washington Monument in Philadelphia, Pa - detail.jpg, Detail from the southeast side.

References

External links