From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Packer Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Packer Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Packer Park ter. It was the former site of both now demolished Veter-
ans Stadium and John F. Kennedy Stadium.
— Community area —
Packer Park
Coordinates: 39°54′40″N 75°10′44″W / 39.911°N 75.179°W /
Packer Park
39.911; -75.179Coordinates: 39°54′40″N 75°10′44″W / The original 1950s core community was named after the
39.911°N 75.179°W / 39.911; -75.179 main Avenue by the primary real estate developer Lud-
Country United States wig Capozzi. Packer Avenue itself was named in honor of
State Pennsylvania William Fisher Packer, a former governor of Pennsylva-
County Philadelphia nia, and was built as an approach to the American Inter-
City Philadelphia national exposition grounds of the Sesquicentennial Ex-
Neighborhoods list
position of 1926. Following 1926, the exposition was de-
• Packer Park, Philadelphia molished and the US Navy built temporary housing on
the site. The Navy abandoned the site and moved fami-
Area
lies to new housing west of Penrose Avenue. This opened
• Total 2 sq mi (5.21 km2)
up the site to the private development of Packer Park
Elevation 20 ft (6 m) on what was reclaimed swampy land and preserving the
Time zone CST (UTC-6) vitality of the borders of Board Street’s Southern Blvd,
• Summer (DST)
DST) CDT (UTC-5) together with the Olmsted Brothers architecturally de-
ZIP Codes parts of 19145
signed landscaped FDR Park on the south and Marconi
Plaza, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Park on the upper
Packer Park is a neighborhood in the South Philadelphia north. FDR Park is 348 acres (1.41 km2) which includes
section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States that a 146-acre (0.59 km2) golf course, about 125 acres (0.51
includes 1,200 homes built in two unique builder devel- km2) of buildings and managed landscapes, and about
opments of Packer Park 1950s and Brinton Estates 1990s. 77 acres (310,000 m2) of natural lands including ponds
It is one of four residential communities that form and lagoons. Also on the south side from Packer Avenue
Philadelphia’s Sports Complex Special Services District. to Hartranft Street is the Philadelphia Eagles Football
The approximate boundaries are Packer Avenue to the Practice Field, Novacare Center and Vendemmia Square
north, Hartranft Street to the south, Broad Street to the maintaining large green areas from the site of the former
east, and 20th Street to the west. Packer Park is also home U.S. Naval Hospital. Along the six blocks from Broad
to one of the most organized community groups in the Street to 20th on Hartranft Street is a landscaped pedes-
South Philadelphia region.[citation needed] trian walkway park lined with trees and seasonal plants,
nicknamed the "Gladway" (memorializing the 1926
Sesquicentennial Exposition green area of rows of hun-
Overview dreds of Galdiolus). At 20th and Hartranft Street is anoth-
Historically this area was a section of Passyunk Town- er memorial green space, named "Lion Park" in honor of
ship, Pennsylvania a defunct township that was located Ludwig Capozzi.
in Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania originally occupied The Packer Park urban townhouses distinguish them-
by settlers from New Sweden. The township ceased to ex- selves in South Philadelphia by departing from the
ist and was incorporated into the City of Philadelphia fol- Philadelphia grid of streets and blocks of dense
lowing the passage of the Act of Consolidation, 1854. The rowhomes. This included cul-de-sacs that were designed
American Swedish Historical Museum located in Franklin with a greater emphasis on a green park setting with
Delano Roosevelt Park on the southern border of the common green spaces and accommodation for driveways
Packer Park community memorializes the Swedish eth- and off street car parking. The community soon became
nic history. populated by a large second-generation Italian immi-
To the immediate east is the South Philadelphia grant population, and continues to be an Italian Ameri-
sports complex consisting of Citizens Bank Park, Lincoln can neighborhood like much of South Philadelphia.
Financial Field, Wachovia Spectrum and Wachovia Cen-
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Packer Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
The
Parker Park - West (The Re- for redevelopment of a former US Navy community con-
verted to public housing known as Passyunk Homes, that
serve)
serve was under-maintained and deteriorated with various en-
vironmental concerns.
The Packer Park community name expanded in
2003–2007 adjacent to the original footprint became
known as the "Reserve" at Packer Park, a separate hous- Stella
Packer Park - East (Stella Maris
ing development of 230 homes built on a triangular land
area to the west of 20th Street, north of Pattison, east
Homes)
Homes
of Penrose Avenue. The Reserve was built on what was The Packer Park community name extended for a sepa-
formerly a United States naval housing site, built in 1962 rate 1950s development of about 500 homes, commonly
and abandoned in 1995 after the Cold War. The Capehart associated with the "Stella Maris" parish housing on 13th
property, a designated ACT II site, housed nearly 400 street for the priest and nuns until the buildings were
naval families in two story townhouse structures sepa- completed on 10th and Bigler Street. Thereafter, the area
rated using a cul-del-sac street design. Upon the Military took on the name of the 1960s Stadium built on vacant
Base Closing Act in 1995, the United States government land to the south border and later demolished to make
deeded the 27½ acre Brownfield property to the city of way for a baseball stadium and known as Veterans Stadi-
Philadelphia. New luxury townhouses were built on the um Homes. located west of Broad Street from Packer Av-
site by a private developer, John Westrum and Real Es- enue south to Geary Street and bordering the expansive
tate agent, daughter of the original Packer Park develop- parking lots of the Baseball Stadium. The parking lot bor-
er, Barbara Capozzi, who styled these homes for families. der includes a large raised buffered zone of green space
The colonial styled architecture incorporated the "green with dense trees and grass.
technology" of environmentally adaptive re-use of exist-
ing piles and foundations, infrastructure, and materials
previously built by the Navy. The existing street layout
See also
preserved green areas augmented with large back yards, • Aquarama Aquarium Theater of the Sea
open area pocket parks and tot lots. The streets and cul- • Naval Hospital Philadelphia
de-sacs were renamed to memorialize sections of Italy to • Sesquicentennial Exposition
reflect the Italian-American population.
External links
Siena
Parker Park - West (Siena • Packer Park Civic Association
Place)
Place • Historic Photographs of Packer Park,
PhillyHistory.org
The Packer Park community name further expanded in • Sports Complex Special Services District
2008 in a new townhouse community of 313-luxury- • Vendemmia Wine Fall Festival at Vendemmia Square
townhome community set on a 30-acre land parcel in this Packer Park
area of South Philadelphia. The development accessed
the Packer Park neighborhood name as a sales marketing
program. The Siena Place townhouse community fur- References
thers the revitalization of the South Philadelphia area
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Categories:
• Little Italys in the United States
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