19th century During the
American Civil War, a small portion of the land that would later become Clark Park was occupied by the southern tip of the 16-acre grounds of
Satterlee Hospital, one of the largest
Union Army hospitals. Some 60,000 Union soldiers were treated at the medical facility, which was torn down after the war. A prominent feature of the park is its "bowl", once a
mill pond that powered a paper mill and another mill to the south. An
ice house sat near its southern tip. The pond was fed by
Mill Creek, which ran through a ravine between 42nd and 43rd Streets, was dammed above Woodland Avenue, The mills were closed in the 1860s. Subsequently, a proposed ordinance was sent on April 19, by the council to the Committee on Municipal Government, which on May 10 recommended its passage in this form: The ordinance was passed on June 8, 1894, and the deal was done. In Clark's deed, he restricted the land to be used solely as a park, and he said that he wanted the park dedicated to children. The first portion of the park was dedicated on January 18, 1895. In November 1898, the area south of Chester Avenue was added, giving the park today's 9.1-acre form. shows the 19th-century author and one of his characters, Nell Trent of the novel
The Old Curiosity Shop. The work was commissioned in 1890 by
Stilson Hutchins, who soon pulled out of the deal. Elwell nevertheless finished the sculpture, which won a gold medal in 1891 from the
Art Club of Philadelphia and two gold medals at the 1893
World's Columbian Exposition. In 1896, the
Fairmount Park Art Association (FPAA) bought the sculpture for $7,500 ($ today); it was placed in Clark Park the following year. By 1908, the association was receiving, and rebuffing, requests to move it to a more prominent place in the city.
20th century , on whose southern tip the stone was placed in 1916. On May 16, 1907, the city council of Philadelphia approved an ordinance "to place the care and maintenance of Kingsessing avenue between Forty-third and Forty-fifth streets in the Bureau of City Property" and lay it out as a
macadam-topped "Park Drive." (This section of Kingsessing Avenue is today a stub road into the park and functions as a parking lot just south of the basketball court.) In 1915, D. A. Conan, of 1345 Arch St., won a $5,000 contract to lay 3,000 yards of
granolithic walkways in the park. In June 1916, a large stone from
Devil's Den at
Gettysburg Battlefield was set up in the park to recall the Union soldiers treated on the site and the "services of the patriotic men and women" who cared for them. The park seems to have been the venue for a long-running
Independence Day fireworks show; in 1937, for example, the "27th annual display of the
Kingsessing Safe and Sane Fourth of July Association lasted an hour and 10 minutes". In 1947, nearby residents complained to city officials about a stagnant pool of water that had gathered in the bowl of Clark Park and become fetid over the course of four months. A city official conceded that the situation was "deplorable" but said nothing could be done because the city lacked money to fill in the hole. Still, Eagles star running back
Steve Van Buren continued to take weekly walks with his dog there. In 1950, the park hosted the neighborhood's qualification round of the annual Metropolitan Philadelphia
Marbles Tournament, which attracted a record 9,148 boys and girls. In June 1961, the city spent $40,000 ($ today) on park improvements, adding a basketball court, shuffleboard court, checkers tables, a tot-lot, two drinking fountains and general landscaping. That same year, regional farmers began offering produce and other products at the Clark Park Farmers' Market.
21st century In 2000, FOCP, the Recreation department, and the non-profit
University City District organization agreed to raise private maintenance funds to supplement municipal efforts. The agreement launched an annual “Party for the Park” fundraiser, which helps underwrite the cost of
landscape maintenance and fund a small, but growing maintenance endowment. Between 2000 and 2006, the trio raised more than $300,000. it was actually completed on June 16, 2011. ==Park events==