Fitler Square

Fitler Square is a 0.5 acre (0.20 ha) public park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, bounded on the east by 23rd Street, on the west by 24th Street, on the north by Panama Street, and on the south by Pine Street. "Fitler Square" is also used to describe the neighborhood surrounding the square, bounded roughly by 21st Street on the east, the Schuylkill River on the west, Locust Street on the north, and Bainbridge Street on the south. Before the 1950s the neighborhood was a prime example of the urban blight that had overcome much of the city. The park itself was described as a "mudhole inhabited by drunks and empty bottles".[3] In the mid-1950s, The Center City Residents' Association successfully petitioned Mayor Clark to do something about the decline of the neighborhood. Working together, they freed up mortgage money for the construction of new homes and rehabilitation of the neighborhood. Today the neighborhood is mostly residential, composed of single-family homes, and within a short walk of the commercial areas of Center City.