Know Your Neighborhood: Franklin Square (part 1: early history)  

Originally called North East Publick Square, Franklin Square was later renamed in 1825 to honor Benjamin Franklin.  William Penn founded the square to establish a commercial center for settlers. He wanted settlers to have a space that was well-ordered to set an example for fellow settlers. But Penn did not own or actually control the square and it quickly came to other uses.  In its early years, the square was an open area used for grazing animals.   During the American Revolution, a brick gunpowder magazine was built on the square's northwest corner.  In 1790, it was later relocated to the less populated 22nd and Walnut streets, because it was deemed a safety hazard.  The square was used for drilling soldiers during the War of 1812.

In 1741, Thomas Penn, the son of Philadelphia's founder, agreed to lease a portion of Franklin Square as a burial ground to the First German Reformed Church.  The church's cemetery at Franklin Square gradually expanded over the decades to include much of the square's eastern portion. 

At varying points, both the public and city government objected to the use of Franklin Square as a private burial grounds, noting Penn had reserved it for public use.

The first major legal battle came in 1797, when the city ruled the lease was illegal and sued the church to recover the burial grounds. Eventually, the city dropped the lawsuit in exchange for a fenced graveyard and possession of the rest of the square.  But the issue flared up again in the 1820s, when the city sought to transform Franklin Square into a park.

In 1821, the city terminated all lease negotiations and ordered the church to vacate Franklin Square.  Litigation ascended to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.  In 1836, the court determined the church had no right to the land, ruling Thomas Penn's grant and subsequent leases were illegal.

The city proceeded to turn Franklin Square into a park, ordering the church remove the cemetery fence, but providing time for the church to transfer buried remains.

The church removed few, if any, remains from Franklin Square, according to the archeological study. Instead, the gravestones were laid flat upon the graves and covered with several feet of soil.

Human remains were uncovered at various times throughout the 20th century.  Several graves were disturbed when the city installed a new sewer line through Franklin Square in 1915.

Additional human remains were uncovered during excavations for the nearby Benjamin Franklin Plaza in the 1920s and during sewer excavations in 1976.

A plaque, dedicated in 1978, recognizes the numerous graves that remain buried beneath Franklin Square, including five of the church's early ministers.