Dog Park Development?
March 8th 2026
On the fence of a fairly well used dog park located on my block at 2210 Latona St today was a public notice from the Philadelphia Land Bank (PLB). The posting, stapled upon which is an 8.5x11 "notice of tresspass and order to vacate," vaguely declares that "you must cease and desist from utilizing the property and remove all items...no later than 6:00 pm on March 9th, 2026." The order later acknowledges that any identification of a potentially responsible party for clean up is unlikely, adding that "if you fail to comply, the Land Bank will exercise any and all rights and remedies."
Yet not even one foot to the left of this notice clears the fog behind the accusational "you." The land seems to be managed by the Pennsylvania Horticulture Society, whose current 10 year mission aims to reimagine vacant and non-vacant land for "unmet social, environmental, economic, and other needs in the region" through the use of greenery and whose logo is slapped twice on the one lot long fence.
This lot's foreseeable future will most likely be set into stone as soon as the next few days. The lot's teardown has been threatened to start by Tuesday, March 10th, which is the same day as the PLB's first meeting of 2026. As for now I see no use in trying to predict how this will play out or if there are even good and bad guys between the two warring organizations. This post is meant to give some background on the lot in preparation for the battle that will certainly ensue. Enjoy
Prior to Philadelphia's city consolidation act of 1854, the neighborhood of Point Breeze was pseudo-suburban farmland in Passyunk Township. Hopes for the township and the city's consolidation failed to align, shown by an 1832 plan for the township surveyed by a John Thompson in contrast with an 1843 map of Philadelphia County made under the direction of civil engineer Charles Elleet Jr. The former hoped to connect Center City's grid with the northern tip of Passyunk Township, bringing connectivity with the city to five significant intersections, while the latter claimes that 11 years had brought about little to no efforts towards such a goal.
I have difficulty finding much organized information about what is now Point Breeze's history from consolidation through the 1960s, when it underwent the well-discussed process of white flight and embarked on an era of general neglect from the city. The Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad ran along what is now Washington Avenue from 1836 until 1902, when the Pennsylvania Railroad purchased and merged it into the Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington railroad which ran until 1976. Washington Avenue, then Prime Street, was dominated by glorious brick warehouses and depots. I can only assume that the neighborhoods South of Prime Street housed a mix of railroad workers, leftover families from farm days, and lord knows who else.
Before ending this post I'll give a little rundown of the fight that's coming over 2210 Latona St, as well as try to summarize the information I currently know about it. Using google maps street view, the lot transforms three major time between 2011 and 2026. In 2011, the house seems to be lived in. There are flowers outside and it is not discernable from any other house on the block. In 2014, we can see a posting that is most likely referencing the houses vacancy stuck on 2210's front door. This coincides with the Philadelphia Bulletin's 2014 listing of the Jenkins Benjamin Estate as the owners of a vacant building at 2210 Latona St. In between 2014 and 2018 the building was demolished, leaving an overgrown lot with a large tree (which was razed and the lawn mowed by 2019). In 2026 we have a dog park, though in 2025 the lot had no visible posting by the Pennsylvania Horticulture Society implying that all within the past year, this lot has been claimed by the PHS, officially turned into a dog park/community space, and now assumably being prepared for sale by the Philadelhia Land Bank.
I find all of this informatino compelling because of the prominence of the PHS's work in the area in conjunction with the rapidity of development that this lot showcases. The PHS has nine projects on the 2200 block of Latona St alone. Six are trees planted, two are rain barrels, and one is the lot at 2210 Latona St. Given the assumption that the lot only lasted as an official "community space" guarenteed by the PHS for under a yaer, this interest in bringing the neighborhood natural solutions for its woes is clearly taken seriously within the organization yet most likely not respected by organizations such as the PLB which actually owns the land. The relationship between the two organizations is thus called into question: Did communication between the two fall through, and if so when? If not, then what is to say that the PHS's other projects are not similarly on a constant brink of destruction?
