John F. Kennedy Boulevard
Between 20th Street & 30th Street Station, Philadelphia

"JFK Boulevard illustrates how a dynamic landscape can dramatically enhance the city's built environment.”
—J. Blaine Bonham, Jr., PHS executive vice president

For years, the stretch of John F. Kennedy Boulevard from 30th Street Station and the Schuylkill Expressway to 20th Street—a gateway for commuters and visitors entering Philadelphia's downtown business district—was a corridor of neglected open space. In the 1980s, a group of conservationists cleaned up the three blocks between 21st Street and the Schuylkill River, overseeing the project until turning it over to The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society in 1990. Throughout the decade, PHS managed and helped support the continued upkeep of this landscape with help from private contributions.

Still, the 2000 block—with a narrow strip of land sloping from the north side of the Boulevard down to the railroad tracks—remained a jungle of weeds strewn with trash and debris. In 1997, Philadelphia Green worked with landscape architect consultants Lager Raabe Skafte to create a new, unified design for the Boulevard that incorporated this forgotten block.

Crucial to securing the project's total capital cost of nearly $185,000 was a challenge grant offered by The Pew Charitable Trusts, which pledged to match monies raised from corporate neighbors along the Boulevard and from individual donors. Fundraising efforts began in 1997, and work commenced on removing enormous amounts of debris from the slope of the 2000 block. SEPTA, the Mayor's Office of Community Services, and the Logan Square Neighborhood Association played a major role in this initial clean-up.

The hillside was then terraced, seeded with grass, and planted with trees and groundcover. Thanks to a massive bulb planting effort done by volunteers, daffodils now brighten up the banks of this newborn landscape each spring. With major support from the Philadelphia Department of Streets, the work accomplished in the project's subsequent phases included new lighting, trees and turf for the 2100 to 2300 blocks. Business tenants in the neighboring Commerce Square towers have contributed to the site's annual maintenance fund.

"So many people who commute to Philadelphia by train or who work in the offices complexes adjacent to our plantings have told me how much they appreciate the new landscape," notes PHS president Jane Pepper. "For some, the pleasure is in seeing a sweep of green grass. Others appreciate the daffodils in spring, and everyone loves not having to look at growing mounds of trash."