Development was enabled by the creation of the horsecar, which pushed development to about 43rd Street, and, after the arrival of the electrified streetcar in 1892, accelerated to the west and southwest.[2]. We apologize for the inconvenience. These neighborhoods were subjected to redlining, a discriminatory practice that prevented residents of undesirable neighborhoods from procuring mortgages or loans and exacerbated the poverty. The earliest developments began in 1850 and the final period of mass construction ended in 1930. Population : 275,579 : Population Density (per sq. This gradual elevation makes the skyline of Center City visible from many points in West Philadelphia. By the end of the 1920s, 220,000 African Americans lived in Philadelphia, and they desperately needed housing beyond the older Black ghetto in North Philadelphia. Demographic data shown in this section was gathered from the latest U.S. Census Bureau release, the 2020 American Community Survey. One of the aggravating factors in this change has been the recent reconstruction of the EL which, due to detours of the "number streets" or numbered northsouth thoroughfares and closure of large portions of Market Street, have led to many remaining businesses failing. West Philadelphia contains many places of worship. The Emerging Suburb: West Philadelphia, 1850-1880, Pennsylvania History, Vol. City officials found these species much more tolerant of the urban environment and resistant to disease. 77th and 86th Streets run just a few blocks before they leave the city for surrounding jurisdictions. Follow Backgrounders on Twitter Select your ideal criteria and let Scout do the rest. Unlike the bucolic landscape of Stanfords park, the University City Science Center was to be located in the densely populated areas just north of the college campuses. The population density in City Center West is 97% higher than Philadelphia; The median age in City Center West is 7% higher than Philadelphia; In City Center West 78.92% of the population is White; In City Center West 6.11% of the population is Black; In City Center West 11.66% of the population is Asian In the 1960s and 1970s, illuminated signs announced what speed to drive to travel 4.3 miles into Center City without stopping for a red light. Documentationon the census data and variables is available onSocial Explorer. University Archives staff created the census tract maps found here. After 1880 the larger houses closer to the river and the university, which dated to earlier in the century, began to be carved into smaller units. Etienne, Harley F. Pushing Back the Gates: Neighborhood Perspectives on University-Driven Revitalization in West Philadelphia. Philadelphia. Today several bridges span the river, connecting West Philadelphia neighborhoods to the citys commercial heart. Instead, it provided unarmed security services to patrol the area and exercised soft power to provide incentives to staff, from professors to janitors, to buy and repair homes in a catchment area around the university. "Match Any Neighborhood" calculates the Match Level of one neighborhood to another using more than 200 characteristics of each neighborhood. Photo: Lexey Swall/GRAIN for The Pew Charitable Trusts University of Pennsylvania Library and College Hall. Blocks away from "West" were the West Philadelphia Catholic High Schools for Girls at 46th Street and Boys at 48th Street, now consolidated into West Catholic Preparatory High School in the building at 46th Street. A few large estates were built during this time as well, most notably the Hamilton familys Woodlands with its iconic Georgian mansion and that of John Bartram (1699-1777), the renowned botanist and Quaker who cultivated extensive gardens along the banks of the Schuylkill. It stood divided, like much of the city and the country, between the haves and the have nots. University City Science Center, the nation's first urban research park was conceived as an ambitious urban renewal project, but ignited racial tensions in a city marred by poverty. Finally, the Route 36 trolley is the longest trolley Green Line service. In West Philadelphia, this incorporated the West Philadelphia and Belmont districts as well as Blockley and Kingsessing Townships into the city. A few African American neighborhoods close to campus were largely destroyed by eminent domain as a result, most famously the area known as Black Bottom that stood between the university and Powelton Village. The original bridge, often called the Schuylkill Permanent Bridge, was first built with exposed trusses, but covered a few years after its completion with a wooden roof and walls adorned with sculptures by William Rush. Statistics are provided for West Philadelphia as a whole and by individual census tract. Most residents of West Philadelphia are U.S.-born citizens (88.93%) with a minority of non-U.S. citizens (6.25%) and an even smaller percentage of U.S. foreign-born citizens (4.82%). There are 200,637 residents in West Philadelphia, with a median age of 33.1. Measuring America's People, Places, and Economy. In 1900 West Philadelphia had 148,548 residents, in 1910 the number grew to 247,928, and by 1920 there were 359,601. Total Population by Neighborhood#5 They were also necessary to create a more walkable environment and additional housing for a growing student body. Foreign Born residents have immigrated to the United States from another country and may or may not be naturalized citizens. Later renamed the Civic Center Museum, it closed in 1994. Most of these passenger trips originate outside of the city, but more West Philly residents are using SEPTA's multi-ride "Transpass"[citation needed], which allows unlimited rides on SEPTA vehicles within the city limits. For the first time in West Philadelphia, houses had garages. Meanwhile, in many neighborhoods on the border of Delaware County and elsewhere, conditions worsened during the Great Recession and the subsequent decimation of the public sector workforce. He noted there was $60 million in manufacturing capital invested in the district, mostly by the river, and fifteen banks with total deposits of $40 million. This article is about the present-day area. The NBC drama American Dreams is set in West Philadelphia in the mid-1960s. In 1872 the university moved to a new campus near Spruce and Thirty-Fourth Streets in West Philadelphia. As of early 2017, large proposed developments in West Philadelphia include the 30th Street Station District and Schuylkill Yards. Airy, West Oak Lane, East Oak Lane, Rhawnhurst, Germantown, Mayfair, Tacony, Wynnefield and Olney. A controversial Philadelphia-based organization often associated with the Black Power movement, MOVE is best known for a 1985 incident in which the Philadelphia police dropped an incendiary device on their West Philadelphia headquarters. The Route 34 trolley runs along Baltimore Avenue from Cobbs Creek at 61st Street to the transit tunnel at 40th Street in University City. West Philadelphia, nicknamed West Philly, is a section of the city of Philadelphia. Philadelphia After the 1854 Act of Consolidation. In 1963, four stone eagles were added to the bridge approaches after being salvaged from New York Citys recently demolished Penn Station. Age is classified into groups; each percentage listed is that groups percentage of the total population. Grades Offered Grades 9-12 Total Students 372 students Gender % Total Classroom Teachers 32 teachers Students by Grade School Rankings When the smoke cleared, sixty-two houses had been destroyed and eleven people, including founder John Africa and five children, were dead. The remaining African American neighborhoods continued to suffer discrimination in access to jobs and capital while many of the jobs that previously fostered economic stability were lost or undercut by the flight of manufacturing firms. Much of West Philadelphias housing stock was built on speculation during the nineteenth century, when revolutions in transportation allowed wealthier citizens to live outside of the crowded city center but still commute in for work. A pivotal factor in the development of West Philadelphia was the construction of the University of Pennsylvanias campus. The NeighborhoodScout search engine is covered under US Patents No. 2020 (latest available). Finally the decision was made by Philadelphia Police Commissioner Gregore Sambor to drop an incendiary device on the bunkerlike structure to weaken MOVEs position. Living in same house 1 year ago, percent of persons age 1 year+, 2017-2021. Finally, note that Social Explorer has included in its Comprehensive Reports most, but not all, of the variables available for each census year. The home, a Federal-style mansion with a two-story columned portico, sat on a 250-acre parcel of land when it was constructed in 1770. Only two MOVE members, Ramona Africa and a child, Birdie Africa, survived the blaze. Modeled after the Crystal Palace Great Exhibition in London, the Centennial Exhibition in 1876 exhibited national pride and belief in the importance of education and progress through industrial innovation. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2011. number of members in ethno-racial group. Rows of Queen Anne and Colonial Revival style houses were built much further from the city center in neighborhoods like Cedar Park and Kingsessing and commercial corridors developed down streets like Baltimore Avenue and Fifty-Second Street. The community has a fair number of Afro-Caribbean/Caribbean American residents, from the Jamaica, Haiti, Barbados, and other areas of the West Indies, as well as a growing number of African immigrants. Every day, thousands of vehicles travel this route, which is one of the major commuter routes into and out of Philadelphia from Delaware and Chester Counties. Coordinates: .mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}395833N 751246W / 39.975709N 75.2129W / 39.975709; -75.2129. The land also houses over 750 historic plants and trees, some grown from seeds brought to Philadelphia by the 1804 Lewis and Clark expedition. For more information, please visit the 2021 5-year ACS Comparison Guidance page. Another major transit link in West Philadelphia are the five Subway Surface Lines, often called the Green Lines for their representation on SEPTA route maps. The city was later ordered to pay a settlement to MOVE, which continue to have a presence in Philadelphia and to fight for the release of the MOVE Nine arrested in the 1978 gunfight. After generating area maps from Google Maps,they added census boundaries and census tract labels as needed. Completed in 1907, this elevated subway line linked West Philadelphia, Millbourne and Upper Darby to Center City and then later to Frankford. Along with a decrease in crime and a trend toward urban living, most of University City underwent gentrification. Housing was at a premium, and due to the desirability of the area, the newspaper of record noted that more than any other section of the city, West Philadelphia encouraged the construction of apartment buildings and the subdivision of old mansions to accommodate the boom. The demographic statistics for this exhibit have been compiled from Social Explorer by the staff of the University Archives of the University of Pennsylvania. Other settlements followed, including Mantua Village, carved from the holdings of a local landowner, Judge Richard Peters (1743-1828), and laid out in 1809. From 2000 to 2016, the number of foreign-born residents rose by roughly 95,000 while the number of U.S.-born Philadelphians fell by 44,500. This process accelerated with the full extension of the Market-Frankford line in 1907, which boosted settlement, including that of immigrant and Black laborers living close to the line. In 1840, the property was transformed into a cemetery with an arboretum of over 1,000 trees. Then in the 1870s the University of Pennsylvania left its cramped center city location for West Philadelphia, a move with enormous effect on the development of surrounding neighborhoods, especially during the second half of the twentieth century. Some early residential developments along streetcar lines developed charters to preserve the residential character of the neighborhood by stipulating no undesirable industry could be established nearby. The most comprehensive, authoritative reference source ever created for the Philadelphia region. Often branded the 'Surekill Distressway,' the Schuylkill Expressway, connecting the Heart of Philadelphia to the northwestern suburbs, has been on of Pennsylvania's popular and congested highways. Rural cemeteries were promoted in the mid-nineteenth century as a solution to crowded city churchyard and municipal cemeteries that also provided residents of the citys crowded center with green space for recreation and fresh air. Some of the largest concerns included the metal workings at Job T. Pughs Auger Works, the Otto Gas Engine Manufacturing Company, and the Allison & Sons Car & Tube Works, one of the biggest wagon firms in the nation until its destruction by fire in 1872. In the following decade, farther to the east, general violence continued to rise, as it did in the rest of the country. The upgrades to campus were impressive. In the 1980s some immigrants began to move into the area, chiefly African and Cambodian, although the latter population would almost entirely decamp for other parts of the city by the beginning of the twenty-first century. . Hamiltonville as a continuation of Penns grid in Philadelphia proper. Starting at $1,020 USD /mo. This postindustrial economic vise resulted in the kind of divestment and shadow economy dealings that blighted many other inner city neighborhoods. As of 2010, there were 24,608 people of West Indian ancestry living in Philadelphia, representing about 1.6 percent of the city, the vast majority of which are Haitians and Jamaicans. It was purchased by the Woodlands Cemetery Company that year for use as a rural cemetery. William Penn wrote that the area is likely to be a great part of the settlement of this age and intended to expand settlement across the river. Farther west, African American neighborhoods tended to be more stable, with larger populations of public sector workers and private sector white collar workers, but that was little comfort to the displaced residents of Black Bottom. But the expansion into surrounding residential neighborhoods embittered many residents. Cultural venues include the Mann Music Center of the Performing Arts and the Bushfire Theater of the Performing Arts on 52nd Street. An additional but smaller and less ornate 16 Italianate, brownstone, semi-detached houses, similar in form to the initial houses, were built around Chester Avenue. What resulted was a collection of Colonial Revival houses with Arts and Crafts influences, which reflect the sophisticated tastes of post-World War I Philadelphians. During the latter confrontation, police firebombed the group's headquarters, killing 11 people and destroying an entire block of Osage Avenue and Pine Street. West Philadelphia was among the early streetcar suburbs, and a portion of it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the West Philadelphia Streetcar Suburb Historic District. Language other than English spoken at home, percent of persons age 5 years+, 2017-2021. An official website of the United States government. Follow The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia on Instagram 215, 267, and 445. and the West Virginia border. By the early twenty-first century West Philadelphia was about as populous as it had been in 1910, having lost more than a hundred thousand residents after 1950. As African Americans began living in more neighborhoods, the white population began fleeing to the expanding suburbs. During the colonial era, West Philadelphia was accessible from the city only by ferry. The Wynnefield neighborhood is a location frequently used by photographers and organizers of civic events. But he abandoned the idea by 1684, two years after his arrival. This is how city residents have self-reported their race and ethnicity to the US Census. 3,248,528. The street was unified by front yards, and enclosed by decorative iron fences. Other high schools include University City High School; William L. Sayre High School, formerly Sayre Middle School; Robert E. Lamberton High School; Mastery Charter Shoemaker Campus, formerly William Shoemaker Middle School; and Overbrook High School. With other anchor institutions in the area, it supported development of the University City District to provide further amenities. Today many parts of West Philadelphia retain the character of those early streetcar suburbs. The law profession in Philadelphia dates back to the days of William Penn. The building, which still sports a large satellite dish on its roof, is now home to the West Philadelphia Enterprise Center. Unlike standardly available Census demographics, NeighborhoodScout uses dozens of custom models to transform 8.5 million raw demographic data elements from government sources into proprietary indices and insights. Asian and Hispanic residents may identify with one of the more specific subcategories. The Cynwyd Line is a limited-service express line from Center City to the Bala Cynwyd neighborhood of Lower Merion Township. By the twentieth century many of the wealthy residents who remained in West Philadelphia located away from the Market-Frankford elevated line or the multiplicity of trolley lines, further accelerating the growth of the Main Line suburbs in the process. West Philadelphia is home to a slight majority of female residents (54.11%) and a minority of male residents (45.89%) with a median age of 32.9 years. In Elegy (for MOVE and Philadelphia), Philadelphia poet and playwright Sonia Sanchez questions the paradoxical nature of a city that seemingly set itself and its people ablaze near Sixty-Second Street and Osage Avenue. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Neighborhood Map Area: 0.192 square miles Population: 2,019 Population density: 1,660 71.5% Black 231 9.9% White 173 7.4% Hispanic or Latino 147 6.3% Asian 64 2.8% American Indian 48 2.1% Two or more races Median household income in 2019: Distribution of median household income 198 Less than $10,000 169 $10,000 to $19,999 Its western majority African American neighborhoods were declining in population and median income. ofGreaterPhiladelphia. 1 Baths Ba; 320 S. 10th Street. The intersection of 52nd Street and Market Street in West Philadelphia was listed number eight in a 2007 list of the city's top ten recreational drug corners according to an article by Philadelphia Weekly reporter Steve Volk. Suburban Lives. Similar homes for rent in Washington Square West, Philadelphia. For the 1844-54 legal entity, see, Neighborhood of Philadelphia in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. [All 13 serve 30th Street Station on the edge of West Philadelphia.] Most recently many of these retail districts with the exception of 52nd Street have been converted to largely residential areas. 1960 Census 1970 Census 1980 Census 1990 Census 2000 Census 2010 Census 2010 Census Tracts The demographic statistics for this exhibit have been compiled from Social Explorer by the staff of the University Archives of the University of Pennsylvania. Updated annually. Warner was the first known European west of the Schuylkill. Professional, scientific, and technical services, Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islanders. Hampton Demographics. In two of West Philadelphias most infamous turns of events, a conflict between the urban black liberation organization MOVE and the Philadelphia Police Department left people dead and many other West Philadelphia residents without homes. West Philadelphia's population expanded in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, thanks in large part to horsecars, then streetcars, and Schuylkill River bridges that allowed middle-class breadwinners to commute into the Central Business District a few miles to the east. Another development on Locust Street, a project by banker and West Philly resident Clarence Howard Clark, comprised three-story, two-bay, brick, restrained Queen Anne rowhouses. Public sector employment in city government and the school district offered a wide range of employment opportunities for Black workers, from professional positions as managers and teachers to jobs that required less formal education, like sanitation and transportation. No representation, guarantee or warranty is made as to the accuracy or completeness of information modified or aggregated for specific neighborhoods and/or zip codes. Throughout the eighteenth century much of what would become West Philadelphia remained sparsely populated farmland. West Philadelphia has about 75 of Philadelphia's 196 blue historic markers, which note historically important birthplaces, homes, business and other places. Data Tool U.S. and World Population Clock See U.S. population by date, region, age and sex, and the top 10 areas by people and density. It was not until 1805 that the first bridge was constructed spanning the Schuylkill River at what is now Market Street. The renowned Penn Relays draw high school and college track and field athletes from around the country. The map below highlights areas of . Persons per household, 2017-2021. As the student body swelled in the first half of the nineteenth century, the center city campus was expanded and new buildings were constructed to replace the Presidents House, but the school still needed more space. New routes into the city aided this movement too, like the Chestnut Street bridge completed in 1866. As West Philadelphia became majority African American, the University of Pennsylvania began an ambitious expansion framed by its 1948 master plan (the universitys first update in almost half a century). Much of the vacancy and crime that blighted West Philadelphia could be found in these areas, which were still cut off from legitimate employment and capital markets. 1 non-Hispanic 2 excluding black and Asian Hispanics. Two other trolley lines originally ran through West Philly. Beginning in 1801, the university occupied the Presidents House, a building constructed on Ninth and Market Streets in the hopes that George Washington would reside there during his presidency, but it was never used for this purpose. The least populous of the compared neighborhoods has a population of 11,228. However, the Paoli/Thorndale does not stop anywhere between 30th Street and City Line Avenue, instead bypassing most of West Philadelphia ever since the closure of 52nd Street station. Other major thoroughfares include Chestnut and Walnut Streets, which together form Pennsylvania Route 3. The resulting explosion sparked a conflagration that consumed much of the block and killed eleven people. These include five of Philadelphia's remaining six streetcar lines. The first building constructed, College Hall, was designed by the universitys professor of architecture, Thomas Webb Richards, and clad in green serpentine, giving it its distinctive color. 927 Spruce Street. The area's African American population began growing in the 1880s through the migration of blacks from the southern states; white flight in the early 1960s completed the transition to a majority-black population. The next most-common racial group is black at 20.3%. Largely commissioned by speculative developers and designed by some of the city's most prolific architects, they were purchased by industrial managers and other professionals who led the first movement of upper and middle class from the more crowded city center. Everything from printers and bakeries to slaughterhouses and mirror manufacturers dotted this slice of the landscape. This set the living pattern apart from its counterparts in North and South Philadelphia, where row houses were interspersed with factories and warehouses. Over twenty-five hundred residents were displaced and the neighborhood was razed. The Philadelphia College of Pharmacy (now USciences) was the nation's first pharmacy college. The city held public unwrappings in the nineteenth century and is home to several important collections, including the holdings of the Penn Museum. Demographic data shown in this section was gathered from the latest U.S. Census Bureau release, the 2020 . The Black neighborhoods closest to the river, and therefore closest to Penn, tended to be those with the lowest income and the least political power. ET on Saturday, 3/4/2023. Many young professionals and families have moved into the area. By 1820, residents of these neighboring suburbs outnumbered those of the city proper. Penn also competed with other parts of the city for urban renewal funds (much of the money allocated within West Philadelphia went to the universitys ends). Date(s) & Update Frequency: The demographic statistics for this exhibit have been compiled fromSocial Explorerby the staff of theUniversity Archivesof theUniversity of Pennsylvania. Raw data sources: West Philadelphia drew national attention in 1978 and 1985 for violent clashes between police and an Afro-centric, back-to-nature group called MOVE.