Hartranft Playground Community Timeline A collective history of the playground at 9th and Cumberland
Building a shared story of the courts’ past will help us move forward together.
The information you see was collected through interviews and archival research. But we know there is much more history to add. Exhibit visitors were invited to take a card and share your own memory or story. You can e-mail village.spaces@gmail.com if you would like to add memories, or check out the Hartranft Through The Years Facebook page.
There is also a section for memories that have not happened yet. Under the “Future” section, our visitors shared visions what they would like to see happen at the courts. Some of them have already come to pass. The rest is up to you.
Playground Timeline
1950
1950: Playground Ordinance Approved
An ordinance to build Veterans Memorial Playground at 9th and Cumberland Streets is approved by Bernard Samuel, then Mayor of Philadelphia.
1956
1956: Playground Opens
1956: Veterans Memorial Playground is opened and dedicated to the public.
1967
1967: Model Cities funds Hartranft Recreation Center planning
1967: Hartranft community activists receive a planning grant from the Model Cities program to envision the Hartranft Recreation Center. This is one of only 7 such federal anti-poverty grants given nationwide.
1970
1970: Hartranft Unit Gets Grant for New Building
“The Hartranft Community Service Center has been awarded a grant of $663,419 for a new two-story building there. … Its 20,000 feet of floor space will be used for recreation, public welfare services, a day care center, housing information and referral services, homemaker services, legal aid programs and aid for the elderly. … Saul Jones, director of the Hartranft Corporation, said the center serves about 29,000 black, white and Spanish-speaking persons in teh area bounded by Diamond St., Indiana Ave, 4th St. and 13th.”
1970: Protesters Shut Down Germantown After Boy Gets Sick at Playground
1970s: After several children contract hepatitis from the Veterans Playground spray park, community activists shut down Germantown Avenue in protest over the need for a new playground.
1973
1973: Cornerstone for Rec Center is Set
1973: The cornerstone for the new Hartranft Recreation Center is laid. The Center has an indoor pool and in-house employment counseling, health services, after-school programs and more.
1980
1980s: Summer Basketball Leagues Thrive
In the 1980s, the Hartranft Recreation Center was adequately funded and fielded many sports teams every summer, from football to baseball to basketball. Coach Rob Jackson, now a scout for the San Antonio Spurs, taught screenprinting to make the teams’ t-shirts. The teams traveled all over the city, taking the train sometimes when they lacked adequate transportation.
2010
2000s: Hard Times
The Hartranft Recreation Center closed intermittently throughout the 2000s due to a lack of consistent funding. The Center is technically owned by the Philadelphia School District rather than the Parks and Recreation Department. This creates a bureaucratic problem in which no one department is actively taking responsibility for the center. During this time, neighbors step up to fix their own baseboards and make sure the leagues are still running, often supplying their own funds to do so.
2018
2018: Hartranft Basketball Courts Renovated
The Sixers, LISC, Parks and Rec and The City of Philadelphia undertake a renovation of the courts. They join The Village of Arts and Humanities in creating an art exhibit to explore the courts’ past and future.
Hartranft Playground Historical Photos Shared by neighbors and friends of the courts
Young men on the courts, 1980s. Photo credit: Edward Glover
