Beyond the Sesqui-Centennial: A History of FDR Park Walk & Talk with Thomas Keels

Thomas Keels leads a history walk through FDR Park on Saturday, November 7, starting at the American Swedish Historical Museum. It's a two-part morning: a 45-minute presentation inside the museum followed by a walk through the park's north end along Pattison Avenue. The walk covers about 1.5 miles of mostly flat sidewalk, so it's suitable for adults and mature adolescents.

The tour focuses on the park's early 20th-century history, when it was known as League Island Park. It was part of the "South Philadelphia Improvements" developed by the Olmsted Brothers—the sons of Frederick Law Olmsted, who designed Central Park. In 1926, the site hosted the Sesquicentennial International Exposition, a World's Fair whose landscape shaped the park into the version that exists today.

Once you leave the museum, the walk takes you past the FDR Park Boathouse, the new Gateway Plaza, and the site of the exposition's "High Street," which the Women's Committee built near what is now Pattison Lagoon. Keels is a lecturer and the author of seven books on Philadelphia history and architecture, including Sesqui! Greed, Graft, and The Forgotten World's Fair of 1926, the very fair that left its mark on the park.

Registration is required and space is limited. Admission is $10, or $40 if you want to include a copy of Sesqui!—that's non-refundable, and a limited number of books will be available at the museum on the day of the event for $40. The whole thing runs from 10 AM to 12:30 PM at the American Swedish Historical Museum, 1900 Pattison Avenue.