Lanier Park

Lanier Park’s past was plagued by racial division and marked by angry residents. The 11,000 Philadelphians who live within a 10-minute walk of the park in the city’s Grays Ferry neighborhood experienced the effects of this tumultuous past in one way or another.

“The park was ground zero for racism in Grays Ferry,” neighborhood resident Meeka Outlaw says. “You have Black people living on one side and White people living on the other. If Black people were in the park, White people wouldn’t go there. If the White people were in the park, the Black people wouldn’t go in there.”

After decades of violence between neighbors in and around the park, the city intervened, locking the park’s gates in 2007. And that’s how it stayed: 4 acres of green space in the heart of a dense residential neighborhood, off-limits and unused.

Trust for Public Land put forth a multiyear engagement strategy that brought the whole community together to renovate the park and unite the two sides.

“We knew there was past tension in the community,” says Gretchen Trefny, Parks for People Philadelphia manager with TPL. “We didn’t want to lead with that [tension]. We wanted to look toward the future. So, instead of asking people what they wanted in the park, we asked them to provide their vision. Once we [could] show people who thought they might not get along that, [they all] had the same vision—they wanted a safe space, a place to walk and recreate—then the relationships improved.”

The new Lanier Park looks different both above and below the surface. Visible updates include more trees, sports fields, and pet-friendly areas. Underground updates include a water-filtration system that will manage up to 106 million gallons of stormwater per year, making the park a place designed with a future affected by climate change in mind.

The revamped park is now open to the public. It incorporates various elements to support the community, including a walking path, playground, separate dog parks for large and small dogs, a picnic area, interactive water features, and Philadelphia’s first Fitness Zone® area.

The new park has enhanced community structures along with community relationships. During initial planning meetings, community members sat divided, with Black people on one side and White people on the other. As they went on, “you started seeing the mixing of everybody. And everybody got to realize, OK, we all want the same thing,” says Outlaw. “I don’t want violence, just like you don’t want violence. I love this neighborhood, just like you love this neighborhood. You might have just moved here, and I might have lived here all my life, but Grays Ferry is your home, just like it’s my home.”

Lanier Park represents the culmination of years of work by TPL and a coalition of longtime residents deeply committed to moving their neighborhood beyond its divided past. It’s now a healthy, welcoming public space that can overcome decades of division.