Hoping that Philadelphia would become more like an English rural town instead of a city, Penn laid out roads on a grid plan to keep houses and businesses spread far apart, with areas for gardens and orchards.
Benjamin Franklin, a leading citizen, helped improve city services and founded new ones, such as fire protection, a library, and one of the American colonies' first hospitals.
[2] Thomas Jefferson, who worked alongside President Washington in overseeing the plans for the capital, sent L'Enfant a letter outlining his task, which was to provide a drawing of suitable sites for the federal city and the public buildings.
[5] Residents of Seneca Village, a settlement of free African Americans and German and Irish immigrants located on the future site of Central Park, were evicted by 1857.
[5] Frederick Law Olmsted, with the help of Calvert Vaux, developed a design for Central Park, which was entered into the open competition held by the city, and subsequently won.