While researching the history of Tacony during the formative years of the Historical Society of Tacony, the Society discovered that Henry Disston was an advocate of urban green space. Disston was responsible for transforming the community from village to company town. Disston Park is the greatest example of Disston's environmnetal foresight. As Dr. Harry C. Silcox writes in "A Place to Live and Work: The Henry Disston Saw Works and the Tacony Community of Philadelphia:"
As a way to preserve open space and beautify the community, the organization set its sights on Disston Park, a somewhat neglected and unstaffed park named in honor of Tacony's founder. This stretch of urban greenery is the best and most enduring example of Henry Disston's environmental advocacy. He understood, perhaps before anyone else, the importance of parks to urban communities. He also understood the pollution-control qualities of trees and green space, as the park's location was chosen not just for its centrality but to serve as a buffer between the residential community and the industrial plants along the Delaware River. This provided both a pleasant visual barrier and a reduction in air pollution for the residential sector of Tacony.Why a park in the center of Tacony? ... Tacony needed a park to symbolize the orderliness and culture of a respective, civilized community distinct from the surrounding land patterns of farms and semi-wilderness. It also became of of Tacony's prized attractions.
Disston Park was central to the community in its Victorian heyday, and was referred to by Samuel Hodgkin in his 1898 book titled "The Bristol Pike:"
After performing a study of issues regarding the park, it was decided in 1994 to initiate a project originally known as "The Memorial Arboretum at Disston Park." The plan envisioned ambitious improvements to this area of the park, complete with new trees, benches, light fixtures, and monuments. As a way to sustain and complement these improvements, an Adopt-A-Tree program was originated whereby friends, family, and loved ones (both in the past and present) would be memorialized.Prominent citizens have their residences adjacent to the park. This is a feature of Tacony worthy of notive and a representation of it on canvas or through the camera would make it a pretty picture. it is the first thing that attracts a visitor when leaving the [rail] cars and makes a pleasing foreground to display the fine houses that front upon it. In the Spring of the year, when flowers are in boom, the effect must be both pleasing and striking.
A Pennsylvania Historical and Museum grant was secured as "seed money" to establish the first phase of the Arboretum. This was obtained through the efforts of State Representative Mike McGeehan. In May, 1996, a tragic event occurred within Tacony which had a profound impact on this community. Christa Leah Lewis, a gifted young resident of Tacony, lost her life in a senseless incident while attending a local carnival. The source of pride that Christa was to her family, school, parish, and friends, and her future accomplishments which will never be known, inspired the decision of the Society to rename "The Memorial Arboretum at Disston Park" to the "Christa Lewis Memorial Arboretum."
With the support of the Lewis Family and the City of Philadelphia, public workshops were held between September, 1996 and March, 1997 to discuss the implementation of the project. In April, 1997 the "Adopt-A-Park" agreement was finalized between the Department of Recreation and the Historical Society of Tacony. In addition, $7500 of "seed money" was secured through a Pennsylvania Community and Economic Development grant in 1997. The first series of young trees were planted in the new Arboretum.
On October 3, 1997, a poignant inaugural ceremony was held at the Arboretum, which featured the unveiling of the first memorial stone and entryway sign at Disston Street. This event was summed up by one of the guest speakers of that day, State Senator Christine Tartaglione, who said, "What you are giving you children today is love - love in the name of a girl who is with us today and smiling down upon us. This is a legacy for all the children in our community. This is a place that will be filled with hope and the sounds of laughter from thousands of Children... Let this sire remind of Christa's lief and her beauty. Remember it today, tomorrow, and forever. We owe it to her family, to ourselves, and to our children."
Former District Attorney Lynne Abraham summed it up by stating, "We honor our children best when we honor them in their lifetime."
On November 7, 1998, the next Ceremony dedicated five additional tree sponsorship stones and the initial planting area sone at the Disston Street entryway. Councilwoman Joan Krajewski secured additional funds to resurface the basketball court, install new sidewalks between Disston Street and Tyson Avenue and install a new walkway leading to the train station.
In 1999, with the help of SEPTA and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, a $250,000 improvement project was executed at the Tacony Station. This project features new steps and railing to Disston Street, iron fencing along the rear of the park, new lighting, and a Victorian style city-bound shelter. Three additional stone sponsorships and the completed first planting area stone were dedicated at the Third Annual Ceremony on November 13, 1999.
In 2000, funding was secured through the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development for the fabrication of iron fencing to extend along the rear of the park, to match the new fence at the train Station. In a cooperative effort with SEPTA and AMTRAK, the old fence was removed, debris cleared away and the new iron fence installed. Four new memorial stones (three tree sponsorship and a planting area stone) were added to the Arboretum on November 4, 2000.
The Fifth Arboretum Ceremony on May 11, 2002 unveiled four new memorial stones in the form of three tree sponsorship sand the start of a third planting area. Tacony Tree Tenders adopted a memorial tree new Disston Street to dedicate a stone commemorating the tragic events of September 11, 2001. A new rock wall and extension of the planting area was installed at the Disston Street entryway in Fall, 2002 with assistance from a grant through the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society.
The Sixth Dedication Ceremony on November 8, 2003 not only completed the third planting area stone, but also marked the addition of the nineteenth tree sponsorship stone. Two new signs were unveiled which now adorn the site at each end to permanently reinforce the symbolism of the Arboretum.
On October 15, 2005, the Seventh Dedication Ceremony witnessed the unveiling of four tree sponsorships, and areas of Disston Park to the south of the Arboretum benefitted from a reforesting program made possible through the efforts of the Tacony Civic Association and Pennsylvania Department of Conservation & Natural Resources.
New trees ranging from sixteen to twenty-four years of age have been adopted and now stretch from Disston Street nearly to Princeton Avenue. These trees will for generations serve as a linear canopy bordering this passive park into which new life has been breathed through the dedication of supporters of the Christa Lewis Memorial Arboretum.
On May 19, 2007, the Eighth Dedication Ceremony added four memorial trees and stones to round out the existing complement of twenty-four such sponsorships. Local organizations in Tacony sponsored a memorial to fallen officer Gary Skerski, who serves as its Community Relations Officer at the 15th District.
On November 8, 2009, the Ninth Dedication Ceremony took place, which completed the third planting area stone along the Disston Street hillside. Reverend Arthur Johnson, Jr., Pastor of Tacony Baptist Church, led the group in solemn hymns and planting area sponsors have moving tributes to those being honored. This was followed on November 10, 2012 with another fine ceremony presided over by Reverend Johnson and brought the total combined memorial stone total to twenty-nine.
Between 2000 and 2012, over seven hundred students from Hamilton Disston and Our Lady of Consolation Schools to part in environmental education programs at the Arboretum. This program educated our youth about tree health and plant care and enlightened them about the history of Tacony and Disston Park while enjoying hands-on activities in the Arboretum.
The 2014 ceremony added three inscriptions to the planting area stones and two more memorial trees and stones. It also unveiled the new gateway sign at Princeton Avenue and celebrated the metal fencing that was repaired at the site's North end along Keystone Street, thanks to Philadelphia Activities Fund grants. For 26 years, this section of Disston Park has served as a testament to community pride within the Tacony neighborhood. The Mission Statement reads:
Our mission for creating and managing the Christa Lewis Memorial Arboretum includes improving and maintaining the Arboretum as a place which is clean, safe, and enjoyable for the Community of Tacony, providing opportunities to interpret important historic events related to Tacony and its residents, educating the community about the potential relationships between nature and city-life, and the important role that plants play in this relationship and promoting civic art and events which enhance the quality of life for residents of Tacony.