The Philadelphia Inquirer provided additional details regarding Friends of Fox Chase Farm’s (FFCF) announcement earlier this month that the organization has dissolved after 35 years in existence.

The 112-acre farm straddles Philadelphia and Abington Township. According to the farm’s website, the property was originally deeded to William Stanly by William Penn in 1682 and was known then as “Mt. Stanley”.

According to the FFCF’s letter on July 10, members “have felt increasingly unwelcome and unappreciated by the current Philadelphia School District leadership”.

From their post on July 11:

To clear this up a little more. It is the Friends group that has shut down. The farm is run by the School District of Philadelphia, and will continue to operate under their management. Nothing is happening with the actual farm property itself.

According to The Inquirer’s coverage, the decision to disband was partly based on dwindling membership and an uptick in fees.

The farm’s 4-H program which allowed youth to raise animals “was suspended in 2022 after the school district began charging fees for services it used to provide the program for free, such as housing the animals”, The Inquirer wrote. Jim Kates, a longtime leader of the FFCF, said the cost to house animals would have been around $15,000.

Philadelphia School District officials told The Inquirer that the 4-H program was not complying with new policies and procedures and that the district “is not in the business of boarding privately owned animals.”

The district, which rents the farm for $1 from the city, is currently renegotiating that 30-year lease. A district spokesperson said the farm saw 10,000 “community visitors” in the last year, The Inquirer wrote.

The farm is open to the public daily from 1:00pm until 5:00pm or dusk, weather permitting. More details about the farm can be found here.

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Photos: PSD