Girard Fountain Park

It was made of acrylic and covered with almost 80,000 pennies collected from local schoolchildren, and it incorporated a device that delivered a recorded two-minute speech on fire prevention at the push of a button.

Called Keys To Community, the one-ton sculpture also contains several brass nameplates representing Philadelphia firefighters fallen in the line of duty over four centuries.

But a restoration effort, begun in summer of 2006 led by Old City residents Janet Kalter and Joe Schiavo, brought the park back into public use.

[10] Kalter and Schiavo, now incorporated as Old City Green, have continued to propose and execute major improvement projects, minor upgrades, and maintain the park on a daily basis.

In 2019, Old City Green proposed, funded, and executed a redesign of the north section of the park, expanding the garden perimeter, installing a central raised-planter feature, three new bench locations, and replaced the lawn with a deep-bed crushed brick surface.

October 2007: The dedication of Keys To Community, a nine-foot bronze bust of Benjamin Franklin by sculptor James Peniston
October 2009: Looking south toward the fountain and the bust of Franklin
July 2020: The fountain and the 2019 mural
July 2020: Looking south from the garden toward the seating area and fountain
July 2020: Looking north from the central seating area to the garden area, which was improved in 2019