The renowned Penn Relays draw high school and college track and field athletes from around the country. In 1924, the president of Drovers and Merchants National Bank argued that West Philadelphia should have its own seat on the local Federal Reserve Board. Airy, West Oak Lane, East Oak Lane, Rhawnhurst, Germantown, Mayfair, Tacony, Wynnefield and Olney. The cemetery is open daily to visitors and still allows up to one hundred burials per year; the mansion is open seasonally for tours. US-born citizens make up 88.6% of the resident pool in West Philadelphia, while non-US-born citizens account for 5.29%. The search engine finds the neighborhoods that are the optimum fit to the set of criteria you choose. As West Philadelphias population climbed in the 1920s to the point that would have ranked it the nineteenth most-populous city in the United States, ambitions for the area soared. The Orlons, who recorded the hit song 'South Street,' formed at Overbrook High School in West Philadelphia in the 1950s. Social Explorer was created by a group of New York demographers to provide online access to U.S. socioeconomic data from a variety of sources, including the United States Census. 302 South 12th Street. Philadelphia After the 1854 Act of Consolidation. 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. A pivotal factor in the development of West Philadelphia was the construction of the University of Pennsylvanias campus. Under the guidance of university president Judith Rodin (b. The main thoroughfare, Market Street, runs East and West, paralleled to the north and south by smaller streets named for tree species. 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 We apologize for the inconvenience. 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. They were also necessary to create a more walkable environment and additional housing for a growing student body. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2011. Retail districts lined every street where there was a station as well as along Market Street. University Archives staff members Mary D. McConaghy and Michael L. Ellerson gathered these statistical tables from the professional version of Social Explorerthen edited them for use here. 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. All of this information was taken from the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau. West Philadelphia contains many places of worship. Professional basketball has a long history in the Philadelphia region, from the first professional league, formedin 1898,to the NBA. 1 non-Hispanic 2 excluding black and Asian Hispanics. The most comprehensive, authoritative reference source ever created for the Philadelphia region. West Philadelphia drew national attention in 1978 and 1985 for violent clashes between police and an Afro-centric, back-to-nature group called MOVE. On Chestnut Street, Drexel Universitys WKDU regularly welcomed local talent into its studio for live events, as did WPEN, which lent its studio to college broadcasters. One of the single largest sectors of the city of Philadelphia at almost fifteen square miles between the Schuylkill River to the east and Delaware County to the west, West Philadelphia at its peak, in the early twentieth century, attracted an influx of new residents to its verdant, suburban-feeling neighborhoods. West Philadelphia was also the home of American Bandstand, the popular dance show that launched the career of host Dick Clark and turned some local high school students into teen idols. As a consequence, large swaths of the area became deteriorated and underpopulated, despite a vibrant Black political and cultural scene and, in the twenty-first century, a resurgent higher education and medical cluster. West Philadelphia High School was one of the biggest and most diverse schools in state when it was opened in 1911. Many young professionals and families have moved into the area. Social Explorer was created by a group of New York demographers to provide online access to U.S. socioeconomic data from a variety of sources, including the United States Census. 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. This gradual elevation makes the skyline of Center City visible from many points in West Philadelphia. 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. There are more white people in the northwest areas of the city. In the early days of decline, the major universities reacted to changes in their surrounding areas aggressively, displacing residents and creating barrier zones between their campuses and city residents. 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. Combined, these trolley routes convey more than 150,000 passengers daily, and operate 24-hour schedules, even in blizzards. The University of Pennsylvania was instrumental in coining the name "University City" as part of a 1950s urban renewal and gentrification effort. (Author information current at time of publication.). The resulting explosion sparked a conflagration that consumed much of the block and killed eleven people. Suburban Lives. 1 Beds Bds; . But during the early decades of majority-Black West Philadelphia, these challenges were attenuated by the growth of African American political power and the slowly declining, but still available, unionized industrial jobs. The Philadelphia College of Pharmacy (now USciences) was the nation's first pharmacy college. To accommodate the bourgeoning population, in 1844 Hamiltonville, Mantua, and Powelton joined together to incorporate as the borough of West Philadelphia, before being brought into the city proper with the consolidation of 1854. 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. Second, the questions asked by census takers usually vary from one census year to the next. The upgrades to campus were impressive. 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. 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. The process began during World War I, as Black migrants arrived in the city in increasing numbers. 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]. Read more about Scout's Demographic Data. Total Population by Neighborhood#5 These are the most common groups that city residents self-reported as their ancestry. 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. Starting at $1,192 USD /mo. After generating area maps from Google Maps,they added census boundaries and census tract labels as needed. By the 1940s, the new area of settlement stretched from the river out to Fifty-Ninth Street and housed about forty-four thousand African Americans, from poor and working class by the water to the Black elite in the northwestern neighborhoods closest to the Main Line. Other settlements followed, including Mantua Village, carved from the holdings of a local landowner, Judge Richard Peters (1743-1828), and laid out in 1809. 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. The group refused to leave and a year-long blockade followed. The group resurfaced in the Cobbs Creek neighborhood in 1981 and was again the subject of neighborhood complaints. By the 1840s developers in Philadelphia, which was the second-largest city in the United States at the time, were already looking beyond the Schuylkill for fresh land. The vintage year (e.g., V2022) refers to the final year of the series (2020 thru 2022). Measuring America's People, Places, and Economy. Cultural venues include the Mann Music Center of the Performing Arts and the Bushfire Theater of the Performing Arts on 52nd Street. 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. The students of "West" were the children of middle-class black people, as well as of Irish, Jewish, Polish and other immigrant groups. 16.5%. Satterlee Hospital, one of the largest Union Army hospitals of the Civil War, operated from 1862 to 1865; part of its grounds are now the northern section of Clark Park. 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. Miller, Rogerand Joseph Siry. Click the Quick Info icon to the left of each row in TABLE view to learn about sampling error. One of the first homes built in West Philadelphia, in an area that was then Blockley Township, was William Hamiltons country estate, the Woodlands. The area's public schools are operated by the School District of Philadelphia. Scope: population of Philadelphia and Allegheny West. Philadelphia Population & Age Distribution Age. The earliest developments began in 1850 and the final period of mass construction ended in 1930. Persons per household, 2017-2021. . A major wagon route, Lancaster Pike, ran through the area, and in 1805 the first permanent bridge was built over the Schuylkill at Market Street. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1990. These are the types of employers who city residents work for. Thus, it is sometimes, but not always, possible to track changes over time. For more than 150 years streetcars have served the Philadelphia area and helped Center City Philadelphia retain its commercial, retail, and entertainment supremacy in an ever-expanding region. 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. The teacher population of 32 teachers has declined by 17% over five school years. Initial development was divided into block lots and sold in 1852 with the condition that "substantial stone or brick buildings" be erected. The 5 largest ethnic groups in Philadelphia, PA are Black or African American (Non-Hispanic) (40.1%), White (Non-Hispanic) (34.1%), Asian (Non-Hispanic) (7.36%), Other (Hispanic) (6.86%), and White (Hispanic) (5.2%). 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. After that, the population exploded from eleven thousand in 1850 to twenty-three thousand in 1860. Philadelphia. Today, Penns influence can be felt throughout the University City neighborhood it inhabits, from displacement of working-class black neighborhoods in the mid-twentieth century to more recent campaigns to revitalize the neighborhood and provide services and better schools for its residents. The Wynnefield neighborhood is a location frequently used by photographers and organizers of civic events. These neighborhoods were subjected to redlining, a discriminatory practice that prevented residents of undesirable neighborhoods from procuring mortgages or loans and exacerbated the poverty. Nestled in the center of Fairmount Park, it is near Memorial Hall, the current home of the Please Touch Museum, Kelly Pool, The Carousel House, and the new Microsoft partner high school, the "School of the Future". on the 200 block of West Queen Lane, in Philadelphia's . ofGreaterPhiladelphia. Community opposition fell on deaf ears and the city demolished vacant houses, declared Black Bottom a blighted neighborhood, and purchased it through eminent domain. 927 Spruce Street. Immigration Surged The immigrant population spiked 59% in 17 years Shoppers at the Hung Vuong Supermarket on Washington Avenue in South Philadelphia. 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. American Bandstand (1952-89) was a massively popular music television program with strong Philadelphia roots, storied national success, and the power to shape the music industry and society. Follow Backgrounders on Twitter By 1840, the tract was only ninety-two acres. By this standard, about 231,000 Philadelphia householdsor about 529,000 peoplewere cost-burdened in 2018, the last year for which data was available. 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. U.S. District Court for the Eastern Dist. Today several bridges span the river, connecting West Philadelphia neighborhoods to the citys commercial heart. On the far side of the Schuylkill, the new housing developments were mostly marketed for the middle and upper classes, whose westward movement was further enabled by the replacement of the omnibus by horse cars in 1858. Since the mid-nineteenth century, West Philadelphia's fortunes have risen and fallen with shifts in transportation and demographics. Marsh, Margaret. The eastern side of West Philadelphia is also known as University City. Many public sector unions became majority African American, or at least enjoyed large minorities of Black members, giving their neighborhoods larger political and economic anchors. According to the 2010 census, 216,433 people live among the ZIP codes of 19104, 19131, 19139, 19143 and 19151.[1](Map). The device ignited fuel in a generator on the roof, causing a fire that spread through the neighborhood. 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. The NeighborhoodScout search engine is covered under US Patents No. Finally, note that Social Explorer has included in its Comprehensive Reports most, but not all, of the variables available for each census year. Elementary schools include Morton McMichael Elementary School and Lea Elementary School. Philadelphia police are investigating the fatal shooting of a 44-year-old man in Germantown. In contrast, people younger than 25 and those older than 65 earn less, at $35,844 and $33,684, respectively. The western reaches of West Philadelphia included miles of two-story rowhouses with bay windows above classical columned front porches. The land that makes up West Philadelphia was not always part of the city. Like The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia on Facebook, Follow The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia on Instagram, Like The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia on Facebook, Philadelphia, the Place that Loves You Back, (Special Collections Research Center, Temple University Libraries), International Peace Mission Movement and Father Divine, University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (Penn Museum), Community leaders to unveil plans for a new West Philadelphia bicycle track (WHYY, May 5, 2012), Taking refuge in West Philadelphia's Clark Park (WHYY, July 26, 2012), Store front church a safe haven for kids in West Philly neighborhood (WHYY, August 3, 2013), Why parts of West Philly not getting the boost from attracting artists (WHYY, August 29, 2014), Philly Love Note: The 'Love Letters' of West Philly's El riders (WHYY, September 4, 2014), HUD chief tours West Philly 'Promise Zone' (WHYY, September 5, 2014), University City Science Center plans expansion that will double its size (WHYY, June 2, 2015), Area near Drexel in West Philly wins big school grant (WHYY, December 22, 2016), Historical marker coming to site of MOVE debacle (WHYY, March 31, 2017), New mural to honor Philly native Ed Bradley of '60 Minutes' (WHYY, May 3, 2017), West Philadelphia Community History Center (University of Pennsylvania Archives and Records Center), West Philadelphia Italianate (PhillyHistory Blog), West Philadelphia: A Suburb in a City (PhillyHistory Blog), An Iron Baron's West Philadelphia Castle (PhillyHistory Blog), Decidedly Different West Philadelphia Twins (Hidden City Philadelphia), New Apartments, Old Glory in West Philadelphia (Hidden City Philadelphia), A Place for Enlightenment in Southwest Philadelphia (Hidden City Philadelphia), West Philly Home Still Sings the Praises of Paul Robeson (Hidden City Philadelphia), PhilaPlace: 4228 Walnut Street: Masjid al-Jamia (Historical Society of Philadelphia), I'm From Philly. The Emerging Suburb: West Philadelphia, 1850-1880, Pennsylvania History, Vol. Copyright 2000-2023 Location Inc. Other developments introduced urban density and architectural uniformity: the Queen Anne style with columned porches and decorative spindlework, brickwork and corbelling; steeply pitched gables with fishscale slate shingles; turrets; balconies; and windows with a single pane surrounded by small panes. Its western majority African American neighborhoods were declining in population and median income. Hospitals and academic medical centers have played a central role in the economies of many major U.S. cities, including Philadelphia. CLOSE. 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. Population Estimates, July 1 2022, (V2022), Population Estimates, July 1 2021, (V2021), Population estimates base, April 1, 2020, (V2022), Population estimates base, April 1, 2020, (V2021), Population, percent change - April 1, 2020 (estimates base) to July 1, 2022, (V2022), Population, percent change - April 1, 2020 (estimates base) to July 1, 2021, (V2021), American Indian and Alaska Native alone, percent, Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone, percent, White alone, not Hispanic or Latino, percent, Owner-occupied housing unit rate, 2017-2021, Median value of owner-occupied housing units, 2017-2021, Median selected monthly owner costs -with a mortgage, 2017-2021, Median selected monthly owner costs -without a mortgage, 2017-2021, Living in same house 1 year ago, percent of persons age 1 year+, 2017-2021, Language other than English spoken at home, percent of persons age 5 years+, 2017-2021, Households with a computer, percent, 2017-2021, Households with a broadband Internet subscription, percent, 2017-2021, High school graduate or higher, percent of persons age 25 years+, 2017-2021, Bachelor's degree or higher, percent of persons age 25 years+, 2017-2021, With a disability, under age 65 years, percent, 2017-2021, Persons without health insurance, under age 65 years, percent, In civilian labor force, total, percent of population age 16 years+, 2017-2021, In civilian labor force, female, percent of population age 16 years+, 2017-2021, Total accommodation and food services sales, 2017 ($1,000), Total health care and social assistance receipts/revenue, 2017 ($1,000), Total transportation and warehousing receipts/revenue, 2017 ($1,000), Mean travel time to work (minutes), workers age 16 years+, 2017-2021, Median household income (in 2021 dollars), 2017-2021, Per capita income in past 12 months (in 2021 dollars), 2017-2021, Total employment, percent change, 2019-2020, Men-owned employer firms, Reference year 2017, Women-owned employer firms, Reference year 2017, Minority-owned employer firms, Reference year 2017, Nonminority-owned employer firms, Reference year 2017, Veteran-owned employer firms, Reference year 2017, Nonveteran-owned employer firms, Reference year 2017. A series of wooden and iron bridges were constructed to replace it until the modern-era span was completed in 1932. Northsouth streets are numbered, rising consecutively from 30th Street at the Schuylkill River to 77th Street on the far western edge near Cobbs Creek and to the block-long 90th Street in Southwest Philadelphia near the airport. The demographic statistics for this exhibit have been compiled fromSocial Explorerby the staff of theUniversity Archivesof theUniversity of Pennsylvania. miles) 13.6 : Sex : Total Population: 275,579 : Male: 128,893: 46.8% In 1831, horse-drawn omnibus services were established in the city and some lines ran over the recently built Market Street Bridge into West Philadelphia, but it was not until they were replaced by horse-drawn streetcars in 1850 that development began in earnest. From radios earliest days, Philadelphia-area college and high school students have tested its boundaries. The next most-common racial group is black at 20.3%. These are tabulated as the languages people preferentially speak when they are at home with their families. 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. But he abandoned the idea by 1684, two years after his arrival. Rodin, Judith. For the next half century at least, West Philadelphia largely became a suburb in the cityabetted by a series of advances in transportation technology, starting with the horsecars of the 1850s. QuickFacts provides frequently requested Census Bureau information at the national, state, county, and city level. They were also discouraged, by legal means or by violence, from immediately following the white population into the growing suburbs. The neighborhood of Eastwick in Southwest Philadelphia, near Philadelphia International Airport, showed the greatest poverty-rate increase of any community, rocketing from 12 percent during 2006-10 to 26 percent in the newest survey. The decision tarnished Penns community relations for many years to follow, especially as the University City Science Center failed to promptly live up to the universitys lofty goals. The student body continued to grow into the twentieth century and by 1900 the campus had expanded to thirty buildings including dormitories, laboratories, and the Frank Furness-designed library shown at left in this postcard. 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. But farther from the university in other West Philadelphia neighborhoods, like Kingsessing and Cobbs Creek on the Delaware County line, conditions stagnated or worsened as the Great Recession eliminated many public sector jobs. Although this part of the region witnessed small settlements of Lenape and Swedes who established Lutheran churches and log cabins on the west side of the Schuylkill, it was not included in the original plan of Philadelphia. ET on Saturday, 3/4/2023. Population : 275,579 : Population Density (per sq. 85.6%. The Big 5, an association of local college basketball programs, played at the University of Pennsylvania's Palestra arena from the time of its formation until 1986. This activity resulted in the rejuvenation of the neighborhoods surrounding the university and the historically mixed-race neighborhood to its immediate west, which in 2010 became majority white for the first time since 1970. The building, which still sports a large satellite dish on its roof, is now home to the West Philadelphia Enterprise Center. The police department made matters worse by becoming the first U.S. law enforcement institution to bomb its own city. Age Under 5 Years: 6.6% The majority race in Philadelphia overall is white at 62.2% of residents. In the mid-1980s, crack cocaine reached West Philadelphia and wreaked havoc in many neighborhoods, resulting in a crime wave that scared off many middle-class African Americans and some of the remaining white families as well. 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. The Route 34 trolley runs along Baltimore Avenue from Cobbs Creek at 61st Street to the transit tunnel at 40th Street in University City. 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. It holds the graves of many famous Philadelphians. Households with a computer, percent, 2017-2021. The numbering pattern is mixed; someone traveling along Market Street into Upper Darby would cross 62nd Street, then Cobbs Creek Parkway/63rd St, then several named streets until finally arriving at 69th Street, skipping 6468. 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. In 2014, President Barack Obama designated a swathe of West Philadelphia neighborhoods, including Mantua, as one of twenty-two national Promise Zones. Originally, Philadelphia city extended only from the Delaware River west to the Schuylkill River and from Vine Street to South Street. Everything from printers and bakeries to slaughterhouses and mirror manufacturers dotted this slice of the landscape. During the 1940s, the Warriors drew crowds to the Philadelphia Arena at Forty-Fifth and Market Streets. The demographic statistics presented here include all variables found in the "Comprehensive Reports" generated by Social Explorer for the census years since 1940. In 1840, the property was transformed into a cemetery with an arboretum of over 1,000 trees. QuickFacts data are derived from: Population Estimates, American Community Survey, Census of Population and Housing, Current Population Survey, Small Area Health Insurance Estimates, Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates, State and County Housing Unit Estimates, County Business Patterns, Nonemployer Statistics, Economic Census, Survey of Business Owners, Building Permits. The highest numbered street to run any considerable distance contiguously is 58th Street, which runs from the northern frontier of West Philadelphia at City Avenue south to the Schuylkill River. The then-scion of the family, William Hamilton (1745-1813), established the estates Georgian mansion and laid out. A click on a specific census tract as found in either the list or the map for a given census year will present a detailed map with a link to the demographic statistics for that census tract. The Media/Wawa Line also serves University City and portions of Southwest Philadelphia before continuing to Media and points beyond. These houses are typical of the early 20th-century developments in West Philadelphia, and are unified by rhythmic patterning of porch and gable features. 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. Count. West Philadelphia was divided into townships and districts with independent governments.
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