Eakins Oval

At the end of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, just in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, is Eakins Oval. The loop of road is usually host to a large volume of traffic as it connects the core of the city with Fairmount Park, Kelly Drive (formerly East River Drive), and Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive (formerly West River Drive). During holiday parades and other major municipal events, such as the Thanksgiving Day Parade, it is shut down to automobile traffic and it becomes the center stage for the gathering.

The oval was part of urban planner Jacques Gréber's design for the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, which he proposed in 1917. [ [http://www.nps.gov/history/hps/hli/currents/franklinpark/historic.htm Historic Notes on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway] at the National Park Service.]

The oval is named for Thomas Eakins, Philadelphia resident, world-famous realist painter, and fine arts educator.

The southeastern side of the oval is used as a parking lot.

The Washington Monument

Just inside the northwest edge of Eakins Oval, in front of the Philadelphia Museum Art stairs, stands the Washington Monument fountain. It was commissioned and designed by sculptor Rudolf Siemering. 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 began to restore the statue under the direction of Margo Berg of the Philadelphia Art Commission. Over the years, the sculpture had loosened 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 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. The face of the sculpture was made from an impression of the former president made while he was still alive. The lowest level of the monument features animals and plants that are native to the country.

The Washington statue itself is a combination of two statues, the first a bust of George Washington and the second a horseback statue of Frederick The Great. The story goes that when President William McKinley was visiting Philadelphia for Washington's birthday in 1900, the city had no statues of Washington to present to the President.

Frederick The Great's statue was changed to become George Washington by removing the head and replacing it with the bust of Washington. Proof of this can be seen in the stance of the horse with one hoof raised, which indicates that the rider was injured in battle, which Washington never was, yet Frederick The Great had been. Another way to notice is that Washington is wearing a German Army Uniform.

Gallery

ee also

*Center City, Philadelphia
*List of monuments dedicated to George Washington

References

External links

* [http://www.phila.gov/property/vp_fountains1.html The City of Philadelphia Department of Public Property] - Additional Photographs of the Washington Monument fountain
* [http://www.fairmountpark.org Fairmount Park Official Website]