Logan Circle (Logan Square)

Originally Logan Circle was known as Northwest Square, one of the original five squares on William Penn's 1682 plan for Philadelphia. It was used both as a burial ground and for public executions. The last person was hanged here in 1823.

In 1825 the square was renamed Logan Square after James Logan, William Penn's secretary. It is known as Logan Circle ever since a traffic circle was created on the square as part of the development of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. Jacques Gréber, who designed the new parkway, based his plan of Logan Square on the Place de la Concorde in Paris. Gréber envisioned a tall monument at the center of the traffic circle, similar to the obelisk at the Place de la Concorde.

Instead a large fountain was created by the Philadelphia Fountain Society in honor of its late president and founder Dr Wilson Swann. The Swann Memorial Fountain of the Three Rivers was built in 1924 by Wilson Eyre, Jr. and sculptor Alexander Stirling Calder, whose father had designed the William Penn Statue on the Philadelphia City Hall. Eyre designed the central jet which sends the water 50ft high. The jet is surrounded by three figures representing Philadelphia's principal waterways. Calder sculpted the Schuylkill as a mature woman, the Wissahickon Creek as a girl and the Delaware River is as a man.

Logan Circle is surrounded by a number of important institutions: the Franklin Institute, the Free Library of Philadelphia, the Academy of Natural Science, Moore College of Art and the Cathedral of SS. Peter and Paul. Unfortunately the circular center of the Logan Square is hard to reach: you need to run across several lanes of fast traffic to reach the central fountain. Hopefully some tunnels will be created to divert traffic from the square. Or a pedestrian tunnel could be created similar to the ones you have to use to reach the Arc de Triomphe in Paris or the Siegessäule in Berlin.