OWNERSHIP
CONDITIONS
USE
CONTEXT
HISTORY
ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
DESIGN ISSUES
TESTIMONIES

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OWNERSHIP:
City of Boston, Department of Parks and Recreation

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CONDITIONS:
Harambee Park is 45.6 acres. Most of the park is a wide, open, grassy, and flat space with no trees. Overhead lights flood the area with light during nights when the field is in use. This is one of the most easily accessed parks in the Heart of the City. Its facilities include:

-- Softball Field
-- Little League Field
-- Football/Lacrosse/Rugby Field
-- Basketball Courts (5)
-- Tennis Courts (5)
-- Street Hockey Rink
-- Play Equipment/Tot-lot
-- Concessions (2)
-- Handball Courts (2)
-- Passive Area

The George Robert White Youth Center, which houses the Blue Hill Boys and Girls Club and holds a swimming pool and indoor basketball court, is not technically a part of Harambee Park but is within the same enclosure.

Edges:
Franklin Field is lined by uninterrupted rectangular blocks of stone that are less than a foot tall but block vehicular traffic from harming the park. The land is flat and clear along the perimeter of Franklin Field, so that agile people can easily cross the boundary. There are several metal gates around the perimeter of the park that permit authorized access and block unauthorized access. There are also several paved paths into the park.

Businesses on Blue Hill Avenue along the edges of the Park include the VA Boston Healthcare System, the Harvard Street Neighborhood Heath Center, and the Fieldstone Apartments (in the former the Robert Treat Paine School). There is somewhat dilapidated office and restaurant space for rent at the corner of Blue Hill and Talbot Avenues in a deteriorating building in 2003.

The sidewalks along Franklin Field are very wide (about 14 feet). Parking is permitted along the edge of Franklin Field, and there are many places to sit and rest along the edge, as well as a basketball court and several paved entrances. There are many trees around the perimeter of the park, including ancient, enormous trees along Talbot Avenue that are in excellent condition.

Entrances:
The main gate to Franklin Field is on Blue Hill Avenue, and is marked by stone columns. The Blue Hill Avenue edge of the park is defined by a four-foot stone wall in excellent condition. The wall is intact for almost the entire length of the park, and there are multiple gaps in the wall that allow for access. Access to these informal entrances is not facilitated by crosswalks on Blue Hill Avenue.

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USE:
Franklin Field is heavily used during the warmer months, particularly along the wall near the intersection of Blue Hill Avenue and Talbot Avenue. Activities on the field include regional events that draw participants from throughout Greater Boston, such as soccer tournaments and sports camps.

Informal activities include congregations of adults and children along the wall, and home-grown stands for food and drink, particularly when soccer games and tournaments are underway on the field itself. Children leaving activities at the Blue Hill Boys and Girls Club linger near the edge of the park to talk with friends and neighbors. Franklin Field is a major landmark and gathering place for those living along the Blue Hill Avenue corridor, even north towards Grove Hall and south towards Mattapan Square.

Use of the Sportsmen's Tennis Club is separate from use of the rest of the park. The Club is part of Franklin Field but also has its own parking area and distinct user group.

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CONTEXT:
The neighborhood around Harambee Park continues to be referred to as the "Franklin Field neighborhood," despite the fact that the name of the field has technically been changed. More than any other open space in the Heart of the City, Franklin Field is associated with the community that surrounds it. The City of Boston calls this community part of Mattapan, while residents and written addresses tend to refer to the area as part of Dorchester (see entry for Franklin Field (area of Dorchester/ Mattapan)).

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HISTORY:
Early history of the field:
At the urging of Frederick Law Olmsted, who wished to satisfy the burgeoning demand among Bostonians for active sports, the City bought a muster field and created Franklin Field in 1894. The Field was intended to fulfill the demand for active recreational activities in Franklin Park by complementing the mostly passive recreational areas available in the Park. Olmsted named it "Franklin Field" so that people would consider the two spaces connected. The original dimensions of Franklin Field extended farther south than they do today. The southern section of Franklin Field was developed as housing for war workers. Later this became Franklin Field public housing.

When Franklin Park first opened, Frederick Law Olmsted used sheep as living lawn mowers, creating bucolic scenes that appear on many postcards from that time period. The sheep were, however, moved to Franklin Field in 1896, before the playground was officially opened. By 1898, Franklin Field was in full use and immediately popular. It quickly became the most heavily used playing field in the city -- particularly for baseball. Historic postcards show the "Franklin Field Speedway," which allowed horse and buggy teams to race around the field's perimeter.

Other parts of Franklin Field were used by a larger cross-section of the community. In particular, the wall at Franklin Field was the place where disparate parts of the neighborhood connected, including Hasidic Jews, prostitutes, and adolescent boys. In the 1940s and 1950s, thousands of Jews gathered during Jewish holidays at a wall around Franklin Field.

Recent history of the field:
In the early- and mid-1980s, a group led by the Franklin Field Corporation community group demanded that the name Franklin Field be changed. They felt that the name Franklin Field did not reflect their history and values as a community of primarily African Americans. In response, the City changed the name of the park to Harambee Park. Harambee is a Swahili word meaning "pull together." The new name is used by City officials and the Parks Department. It is on City maps. However, it is seldomly used by residents.

The Metropolitan District Commission (MDC) had a skating rink on this property until 1994/1995 when the George Robert White Youth Center was built on top of the rink.

In 1995, the City completed $1,236,000 in improvements to Harambee Park. These included renovations of the playground and fields, improved drainage of the field, reconstructed playing fields, a restored walkway, and enhanced landscaping. In 2001, the National Football League (NFL) donated money to Harambee Park via the Neighborhood Development Corporation of Grove Hall for a football field.

Sportsmen's Tennis Club:
The Sportsmen's Tennis Club has existed for many years but fell on difficult financial times in the 1990s. Since 1997, the club has been managed at no cost by the Longfellow Clubs, a charitable organization that runs several tennis clubs. Since 1997, use of the club has increased dramatically, the facilities have been renovated, and there are plans to expand.

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ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES:
There are many tire tracks embedded into the soil at Franklin Field, particularly in areas where the land is poorly drained. Flooding of particularly low sections of the field is frequent and motor vehicles can compact the soil.

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DESIGN ISSUES:
Signage for the park, and for connections between Franklin Field and Franklin Park are limited. It would be difficult and dangerous for a pedestrian to cross Blue Hill Avenue and Harvard Street, walk along Angel Street, and access Franklin Park from the field.

In 2005, there were inadequate restroom facilities for park users. Although there are numerous users of the field and often times soccer tournaments that draw large crowds, the park only has side-by-side portapotties which are labeled with handwritten "mens" and "womens" signs. (Lauara Crimaldi and Thomas Caywood, "Herald Exclusive; Ewww: City Restrooms Need A Bath," The Boston Herald , July 4, 2005).

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TESTIMONIES:
"In my childhood, a natural corridor of rocky cliff and field, wild flowers and tar pits, extended from the corner of Franklin Field after crossing Blue Hill Avenue to the west, all the way to Franklin Park.This was the run of gangs from our streets when playing cowboys and Indians - for with two brief asphalt intermissions one was deep in brush, grass, or woods from one end of the roundup to the other" (Mirsky, J. Who lost the Emerald Necklace? In Search of Franklin Park." The Boston Globe Magazine, 1979).

"Who knows what the City might change next. They might put in a new tennis court here where we are standing and then call this place by a new name. But everybody here calls this place Franklin Field" (Darren, a long-term resident of Franklin Field public housing development).

"As a boy in Roxbury, I learned early and quickly what it is to be an outsider. Boston, in the 1940s, was a pervasively anti-Semitic city. Riding by Franklin Field on this trip, I remembered losing some teeth there back then to a gang of readers of Charles Coughlin's "Social Justice," who recognized me as a killer of their Lord" (Nat Hentoff, "Things ain't what they used to be," The Boston Globe, Dec. 16, 2001).

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