Logan Circle, also called Logan Square, is an outdoor park in central Philadelphia?s northwest quadrant one of the initial five squares conceptualized by William Penn in his 1682 blueprint for the city. Logan Circle is situated within the original boundaries of the square and one of the central attractions found in Benjamin Franklin Parkway system. It is also an epicenter of the eponymous neighborhood.

Logan Circle was previously named ?Northwest Square? after its location and to some extent, has a morbid and violent history as it was the venue where law offenders were executed through hanging as well as a burial ground which lasted till the first few years of the 19th century. The last execution happened here in 1823. It was renamed to Logan Square in 1825 after statesman and William Penn?s Secretary James Logan and became more popularly known as Logan Circle when a traffic circle was added to the open-space park as part of the enhancement program for the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. The plan for the new park was drawn up by Jacques Greber and was modeled after the acclaimed Place de la Concorde in Paris. He wanted to put up a towering monument at the center of Logan Circle just like the obelisk found in Place de la Concorde.

However, instead of a tall monument, a mammoth fountain became the highlight of Logan Circle which was made by the Philadelphia Fountain Society to honor the memory of its late founder and former president Dr. Wilson Swan. The Swann Memorial Fountain of the Three Rives was constructed in 1924 by Wilson Eyre Jr. and Alexander Stirling Calder. Calder?s father was the master behind William Penn?s statue found in Philadelphia City Hall ? the tallest local city government office in the United States. Eyre is behind the conceptualization of the central jet which shoots water as high as 50 feet while Calder carved the three statues which stand for the three primary waterways of Philadelphia. The Schuylkill is depicted as an old woman, the Wissahickon Creek is portrayed as a girl and the Delaware River is illustrated as a man. Every end of the school year, incoming sophomores, juniors and seniors from J.W. Hallahan Catholic Girls High School dive into the fountain to celebrate the culmination of the academic year and has been a tradition since the 1960s.

Several attractions are located a stone?s throw away from the Logan Circle such as the Philadelphia Free Library which was designed after the twin buildings of Hotel de Crillon also in Paris, the Franklin Institute, the Academy of Natural Sciences, the Moore College of Art and Design and the grand Cathedral-Basilica of SS. Peter and Paul.