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Formerly known as Pier 53, Washington Avenue Green is located at Washington Avenue, just south of the Coast Guard station and behind the Sheet Metal Workers’ Union Hall, 1301 South Columbus Boulevard. The one-acre site on the long-abandoned pier is one of the few tracts along the Delaware riverfront that is owned by the City of Philadelphia. It is the first of the public parks to be created by the Action Plan for the Central Delaware. Because there has been no commercial activity at that location for decades, the pier that originally had welcomed ships and freight carriers has deteriorated, and both native and non-native trees and plants took hold and flourished.

rotted piers of Pier 53

The rotted piers and eroded shoreline have become a nursery for migrating fish and a permanent home for several species of mussels.

This newly discovered habitat is being exploited and informs the park’s unique spirit. Delaware Avenue Green has been redesigned and reconstructed as a public space on the interim trail that is planned for the southern section of the Central Delaware.

Washington Avenue Green is a work in progress, as is this website. Additional pages will be added in the near future, and there will be regular updates as the seasons change and events are planned.

The waterfront has been described as 'the retreating glacier of Philadelphia's industrial past'.

New trees and plants supplanting existing growth were planted shortly before the park was officially dedicated on October 27, 2010.

Pier 53 — Plan 2: There's a plan in the works to extend the small park at the foot of Pier 53 just south of Washington Avenue into the river by building a self-supporting boardwalk structure over the pier. This will allow visitors to walk away from the shore to view the river.

It will also serve as a demonstration of best practices in ecological restoration and establish Pier 53 as the northern anchor of a future wetlands project that will some day extend south down to Pier 70. The Delaware River Waterfront Corporation will be working closely with the Army Corps of Engineers and the Philadelphia Water Department to bring this project to fruition.

Pier 53 as an immigration station.

Pier 53 is the Ellis Island of Philadelphia; it was a point of entry in the nineteeth and early twentieth century for over a million immigrants from Europe. For more about this story, click here.

Pier 53 navigation button

—Susan McAninley

link to Ecofest, May 19, 2012
Click here for link to flyer

We're having a Sail!

The Friends of Washington Avenue Green are sponsoring a sail on the 'Northwind'. Click here for the flyer and registration information. Space is limited.

map of the park

Top photo taken April 5 2012 by Susan McAninley; far left photo by Susan McAninley;
Archival Pier 53 photo to the left from Philadelphia Library Company; Map rendering above by Biohabitats