One of the most appealing off the main thoroughfare neighborhood parks we’ve encountered in a while, sits in West Philly at the corner of 48th and Chester streets, locked up and largely unused.

An entrance

Squirrel Hill Falls Park was envisioned by local artist Danielle Rousseau Hunter. It’s a cozy forest-like corner pocket lot with a waterfall mural on its back wall. From the mid-80s until the mid-90s, Rousseau Hunter spearheaded efforts that corralled resources of neighbors and city and state offices, to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars, including donations to design and complete the park. But its use ultimately became a neighborhood saga, according to this 1996 City Paper article.

Front door

The article describes Rousseau Hunter as a community activist who was tough against blight and big on transforming properties. It tells of how she founded the Squirrel Hill Community Association (SHCA), and documents some of her triumphs. It started in 1985 when Rousseau Hunter announced that she and Jane Golden, who now runs the Mural Arts Program, were painting a mural of a waterfall on a previously abandoned lot in an area ripe with the culture but associated with rundown, vacant homes. The lot eventually became Squirrel Hill Falls Park, which the Marines, Air Force, Navy and Army all helped to build.

But then the piece tells the underside of Rousseau Hunter’s seemingly private park. On Philadelphia Speaks, commenters have claimed in recent years that Rousseau has run the park like a fiefdom. There, readers have delineated the park is owned by Friends Rehabilitation Program, Inc. (FRP) For years, neighbors have apparently tried to use the park for public space, but have been unable to do so. The latest news about the park is that there was a cleanup last summer, sponsored by FRP, as reported by the West Philly Local.

Closer look

FRP acquired the site from Willard Rouse about 10 years ago, according to executive director Craig Smith. Before Rouse created Liberty Property Trust and developed Liberty One and Two, he developed low-income housing. FRP acquired the park and the apartment building across the street along with a couple of other neighborhood properties which have since been sold.

“We’d like to support the community but at the end of the day you’ve got a cost there,” said FRI executive director Craig Smith.

Smith said a group, he is unsure who, or whether the group was formal or informal, used to care for the park when it was open. For it to be opened now, an incorporated group capable of covering the costs of maintenance and insurance would have to come forward, Smith said. He said FRP is open to exploring various options, including selling. He said they clean the lot when it becomes disastrous, and has not heard anything from interested neighbors beyond informal mentions of ideas.

A peek inside

How can, and what neighbors come together to claim this neighborhood location? Cedar Park Neighbors? A group of Squirrel Hill residents? The park lends itself to performances. According to Smith, insurance for such events can range in the thousands. So whoever, if anyone, can manage this park, they’ll have to dough. Who that will ultimately be, if anyone, is the unanswered question for now.

–Lou Mancinelli