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U.S. NEWS Monday 4 SepteMber 2017
Philadelphia fetes Benjamin Franklin Parkway as it turns 100

project in 1908 and archi- After it was completed, The He’s created about 900
tects Paul Cret, Clarence New York Times called the colorful lanterns in whim-
Zantzinger and Horace parkway an example of sical shapes like emojis,
Trumbauer produced the “civic magnificence.” hamburgers and aliens that
original plan for what was The celebration gets start- will adorn 27 pedicabs. The
then called the Fairmount ed Sept. 8 with a “cultural public can get free night-
Parkway. After delays and crawl” featuring 100 free time rides around the park-
politics stalled it for nearly a activities including muse- way on these pedicabs,
decade, France-born land- um admission deals, guid- transforming the parkway
scape architect Jacques ed tours, crafts and com- with the glowing, moving
Greber was assigned to munity art projects. clusters of color.
revise the original plan Artist Cai Guo-Qiang has Other events include
in 1917. More than 1,300 been commissioned to turn plantings, concerts, and
homes and other prop- the parkway into a dream- more activities will be an-
erties were destroyed to scape from Sept. 15 to Oct. nounced as the year goes
In this Feb. 22, 2007 photo, Ralph Archbold, left, portrays make way for the parkway. 8 with his “Fireflies” work. on.q
Benjamin Franklin as he tosses a time capsule into a hole
beside the Benjamin Franklin
Parkway in Philadelphia. The
city has a full roster of yearlong
celebrations planned for the
parkway, starting Sept. 8,
2017, and continuing through
November 2018, when the
Parkway officially turns 100.
(AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

By KRISTEN DE GROOT
Associated Press
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Phila-
delphia’s grand cultural
boulevard, the Benjamin
Franklin Parkway, is gear-
ing up for its 100th birthday.
The mile-long artery con-
nects the city’s business
district with sprawling Fair-
mount Park, and is a cor-
ridor of world-renowned
museums, imposing mon-
uments and splashing
fountains. The city has a
full roster of yearlong cel-
ebrations planned for the
parkway, starting Sept. 8
and continuing through
November 2018, when the
Parkway officially turns 100.
Some things to know about
one of the nation’s earliest
showcases of urban re-
newal:
HISTORY
As early as the 1850s, civic
organizations, politicians
and prominent Philadel-
phians wanted to create
a boulevard to link the
heavily industrial city with
bucolic Fairmount Park. It
was part of the “City Beau-
tiful” movement sweeping
the nation at the time, a
response to overcrowded,
tenement-filled neighbor-
hoods. The idea was to use
urban planning to create
monuments and boule-
vards, beautifying the city
and creating vistas to cul-
tural landmarks, in the spirit
of the Champs Elysees in
Paris.
Philadelphia voters ap-
proved a loan for the