As we close out the calendar year, we are reflecting on the top 25 moments of 2025! Check out yesterday’s post featuring our program highlights. Today, we’re highlighting the biggest stories in park infrastructure this year – from new capital projects to historic preservation and land care.
The Conservancy’s work advances park infrastructure ranging from playgrounds, trails, and athletic fields to wetlands, creeks, and meadows. Together, these improvements are vital to Philadelphia’s public health, economic well-being and environmental sustainability.
And, simply put, they make our parks a fun place to visit and explore.
Here’s where we’ve made progress for Philly parks!
Introducing the Gateway Plaza
In June, Fairmount Park Conservancy and partners cut the ribbon to officially open the Gateway Plaza in FDR Park! The new plaza features custom benches, bike racks, water misters, rain gardens, and a colorful six-foot-tall steel sign that makes the park more visible at the busy intersection of Broad St. and Pattison Ave. The plaza has 81 new trees and thousands of new perennials, grasses, and ferns selected for their climate resiliency and contributions to a diverse ecology.
After a year of construction, the plaza is now the perfect place for pedestrians, transit users, and cyclists to begin their FDR Park adventure!
Reimagining Welsh Fountain
The Conservancy released new designs for the historic John Welsh Memorial Fountain, envisioning a restored fountain surrounded by welcoming spaces for play, learning, art, and relaxation. Informed by extensive community input, the plans for the Welsh Fountain Garden also improve pedestrian access, highlight Parkside’s cultural history, and strengthen the landscape with resilient native plantings.
New spaces and places for youth sports
In FDR Park, we’ve continued to make progress on the future multisport fields and basketball courts designed to expand recreational opportunities for children in Philadelphia.
This year also marked the Conservancy’s first-ever multi-site field day series, which started in FDR Park in June, went to East Fairmount Park in July, and concluded in West Fairmount Park in September. The field days, organized in partnership with Philadelphia Parks & Recreation and Philadelphia Youth Sports Collaborative, featured games and sports activities for all ages, as well as music, food, and dancing.
Growing a greener, more welcoming Johnny Sample Recreation Center
In September, 100 volunteers joined the Conservancy and Rebuild Philadelphia to plant 1,000 native plants around the newly renovated Johnny Sample Recreation Center. These new plantings will create a vibrant and welcoming landscape that links the updated recreation center to the surrounding natural beauty of Cobbs Creek Park. Stay tuned for news about the rec center’s reopening in 2026!
Completion of the FDR Park Welcome Center
In 2025, the Conservancy and partners completed the renovation of FDR Park’s first-ever Welcome Center. Initiated in August 2022, this $12 million project is an adaptive reuse of the former park guardhouse and horse stables, made possible through a public-private partnership between the City of Philadelphia and the Conservancy.
The new Welcome Center is LEED Gold certified and features public restrooms, an open-air courtyard for refreshments and events, community meeting spaces, park offices, and an information center. The Welcome Center is not yet open to the public, stay tuned for updates in 2026!
Planting the future of Philadelphia parks
In 2025, the Conservancy worked with Philadelphia Parks & Recreation and local volunteers to plant 1,409 trees and 498 shrubs across Philly parks, including East and West Fairmount Park, Cobbs Creek, and FDR Park. These plantings expanded the urban canopy, restored biodiversity, and strengthened climate resilience, creating both shade and beauty for generations to enjoy.
Award-winning fun in full swing
Spanning two acres, the Anna C. Verna Playground at FDR Park is a landmark destination where nature-inspired design and imaginative play come together for visitors of all ages. With custom natural structures, an innovative Corkeen surface, and the largest swing set in North America, the playground blends sustainability with accessibility to provide a unique nature play experience in South Philadelphia’s largest park. This year, the Anna C. Verna Playground won a Merit Award from the ASLA Pennsylvania Delaware chapter and was recognized as a pioneering blueprint for revitalization and protection from climate change.
Recommended reading — and listening!
The Anna C. Verna Playground was also featured in a new edition of The Design of Childhood: How the Material World Shapes Independent Kids by design critic Alexandra Lange, who won a Pulitzer last year for her writing on public spaces for children and families. In her writing and on a recent episode of the design podcast 99% Invisible, Lange extolls the playground’s design for its all-ages inclusiveness.
Teamwork on the trails
This year, the Conservancy worked with Philadelphia Parks & Recreation and Belmont Plateau Trails Alliance to perform critical maintenance on the Trolley Trail in West Fairmount Park. This work included removing invasive plants from the path, re-positioning and adding trail blazes, and repairing several wooden bridges.
The Trolley Trail is a four-mile trail loop tracing the path of the Fairmount Park Trolley line, which carried passengers through the park from 1896 until 1946. Walkers, runners, bikers, and horseback riders are all welcome to explore history – and discover the stunning Skew Arch Bridge! – as the trail winds through West Fairmount Park’s scenic woods.
Window restoration at Lemon Hill
The views at Lemon Hill Mansion got an upgrade this year! The Conservancy’s historic preservation team completed the meticulous restoration of 23 of the house’s original windows. Each window was carefully removed and taken to the workshop to be deglazed, repaired, reglazed, and repainted before being reinstalled with new weather stripping to ensure proper operation. This conservation work helps protect the 225-year-old mansion and maintain its historic character for generations to come.
Did you know? Sold to the City of Philadelphia in 1844, the Lemon Hill estate was the first land parcel of Philadelphia’s public parks system, which has since grown to 10,200 acres in size. Over 180 years later, Lemon Hill will welcome visitors from all over the world as the official FIFA Fan Fest site during the 2026 World Cup games in Philadelphia!
Your support sustains our parks
2026 will be another big year for Philadelphia’s parks and public spaces as thousands of visitors and residents gather to celebrate the United States’ 250th anniversary, the 2026 World Cup, and more. At the same time, the Conservancy will embark on the next phases of the FDR Park Plan and continue the work to bring the Welsh Fountain Garden designs to life.
Through the Fair Play campaign, we are building public landscapes that will serve and shape Philadelphia for generations to come. Learn more and get involved at fairplayphilly.org!
