A series of wooden and iron bridges were constructed to replace it until the modern-era span was completed in 1932. In 1923 the Philadelphia Bulletin estimated that at least half the population of the district commuted in to center city every day. This postindustrial economic vise resulted in the kind of divestment and shadow economy dealings that blighted many other inner city neighborhoods. The Black population swelled again during World War II, breaking West Philadelphias racial boundaries by moving south of Market Street and west of Fifty-Ninth Street. It was purchased by the Woodlands Cemetery Company that year for use as a rural cemetery. 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. The upgrades to campus were impressive. The demographic statistics for this exhibit have been compiled fromSocial Explorerby the staff of theUniversity Archivesof theUniversity of Pennsylvania. With other anchor institutions in the area, it supported development of the University City District to provide further amenities. Raw data sources: School Dropout Rate for Population 16 to 19 Years : Civilian Population 16 to 19 Years Old: 17,540 : Not High School Graduate, Not Enrolled (dropout) 1,023: 5.8%: High School Graduate, or Enrolled (in school) 16,517: 94.2% : Employment/Unemployment for Civilian Population in Labor Force Age 16 Years and Over : Civilian Population in Labor Force . Read more about Scout's Demographic Data. A map showing West Philadelphia in relation to the rest of the city. There are 200,637 residents in West Philadelphia, with a median age of 33.1. 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. Chinese and Koreans, were living in the Oxford Circle/Castor section of lower Northeast Philadelphia (ZIP code 19149), West Philadelphia (19104), and Chinatown (19106 . Running above and, for a portion, under Market Street, this transportation link is one of Philadelphia's two major transit lines that transport hundreds of thousands of students and workers daily into and around the city. Black Bottom was a traditionally black, working-class neighborhood along the Market Street corridor, between the Powelton Village and Mantua neighborhoods and the campuses of Drexel University and the University of Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2007. [28] None of the households in Philadelphia, PA reported speaking a non-English language at home as their primary shared language. West Poplar; Philadelphia Population Statistics. The western portion of the neighborhood was once home to some of the most expensive real estate in the country (and much striking Victorian-era architecture remains). In . Philadelphia After the 1854 Act of Consolidation. The NBC drama American Dreams is set in West Philadelphia in the mid-1960s. 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. The two 77th Streets (as well as all numbered streets after 58th) are miles apart. A handful of chestnut trees remain near Cobbs Creek. 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 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. During a confrontation at the fortified compound of the anarcho-primitivist group MOVE in 1985, the police attempted to drop a high explosive on a bunker atop the radicals home. 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. In May 1985, an attempt to evict MOVE again escalated to violence. 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. For a complete list of the variables and breakdowns of data available, consult the professional version of Social Explorer available from the University of Pennsylvania Libraries and other institutional subscribers. Scope: population of Pennsylvania and Philadelphia -40% -20% -0% +20% % ref. In recent years, parts of West Philadelphia have undergone "Penntrification," a term that reflects the University of Pennsylvania's role in gentrification of the neighborhood; including a campaign to rename part of the area University City (the designation now appears on maps as well as public street signs and government listings). 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. Click the Quick Info icon to the left of each row in TABLE view to learn about sampling error. The western reaches of West Philadelphia included miles of two-story rowhouses with bay windows above classical columned front porches. Scope: population of Philadelphia and Allegheny West. Etienne, Harley F. Pushing Back the Gates: Neighborhood Perspectives on University-Driven Revitalization in West Philadelphia. The Route 34 trolley runs along Baltimore Avenue from Cobbs Creek at 61st Street to the transit tunnel at 40th Street in University City. 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]. Many young professionals and families have moved into the area. 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. An official website of the United States government. 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. 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. miles) 13.6 : Sex : Total Population: 275,579 : Male: 128,893: 46.8% Follow The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia on Instagram Immigration has become a major driver of population growth in Philadelphia in recent years, with long-term demographic and economic implications for the city and the region. The Woodlands mansion and cemetery continue to operate today. 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. With firefighters fearful of being fired upon, the blaze was allowed to burn. It was not until 1805 that the first bridge was constructed spanning the Schuylkill River at what is now Market Street. At the same time, new development moved beyond Forty-Fifth Street out to Cobbs Creek, the border with Delaware County. Founded in 1897, the Commercial Museum promoted the merits of international trade. 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. The vintage year (e.g., V2022) refers to the final year of the series (2020 thru 2022). 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. 302 South 12th Street. Professional basketball has a long history in the Philadelphia region, from the first professional league, formedin 1898,to the NBA. People who identify as black are most likely to be living in the central places. Grades Offered Grades 9-12 Total Students 372 students Gender % Total Classroom Teachers 32 teachers Students by Grade School Rankings 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. The average annual household income in Overbrook Park is $63,686, while the median household income sits at $47,174 per year. 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. The educational institutions and city planners wanted to establish a research park like Stanford Universitys Industrial Park to revitalize the community. University Archives staff created the census tract maps found here. Computer and Internet Use. The district still had fewer than a hundred thousand people in 1890, but every new census revealed meteoric growth. West Philadelphia, nicknamed West Philly, is a section of the city of Philadelphia. 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. Second, the questions asked by census takers usually vary from one census year to the next. Finally, note that Social Explorer has included in its Comprehensive Reports most, but not all, of the variables available for each census year. Both College Hall and the library remain standing and are West Philadelphia landmarks. 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. 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 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. 2020 (latest available). Other major thoroughfares include Chestnut and Walnut Streets, which together form Pennsylvania Route 3. The consolidation was one of the many factors in West Philadelphias nineteenth-century population boom. West Philadelphia is the home to several universities, including the University of Pennsylvania, Drexel University, the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, and Saint Joseph's University. Multiple business corridors sprouted on Fifty-Second Street and Baltimore, Lancaster, Woodland, and Girard Avenues. ET on Saturday, 3/4/2023. The houses in this grouping are primarily three-story Italianate buildings, linked by material, decorative detail, and form. In 1850, it was destroyed by fire. An alternate definition includes all city land west of the Schuylkill; this would also include Southwest Philadelphia and its neighborhoods. 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. 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. Philadelphia's connections to the Pacific World are as old as the city itself, including early participation in the China Trade and the first Japanese gardens in the United States at the Centennial Exhibition. Hospitals and academic medical centers have played a central role in the economies of many major U.S. cities, including Philadelphia. Philadelphia. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015. West Philadelphia's streets are laid out in a modified grid. on the 200 block of West Queen Lane, in Philadelphia's . The Black population swelled again during World War II, breaking West Philadelphia's racial boundaries by moving south of Market Street and west of Fifty-Ninth Street. Hampton Demographics. They were also necessary to create a more walkable environment and additional housing for a growing student body. 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 Darby Road also ran up to this point, granting access to communities like Chester farther down the Delaware River. During the colonial era, West Philadelphia was accessible from the city only by ferry. Immigration Surged The immigrant population spiked 59% in 17 years Shoppers at the Hung Vuong Supermarket on Washington Avenue in South Philadelphia. Arrivals from East Asia and Latin America, mainly Dominicans, Puerto Ricans, and Mexicans, have given the area small Hispanic and Asian American populations. Philadelphia's love affair with the bicycle began with its public debut at the 1876 Centennial Exhibition, held in Fairmount Park. Learn how and when to remove this template message, West Philadelphia Streetcar Suburb Historic District, University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, National Register of Historic Places listings in West Philadelphia, "Studio 34's Eponymous Trolley, or, A Short History of Route 34", Mastery Charter Schools' big test in Philadelphia, "Commodore Theatre in Philadelphia, PA - Cinema Treasures", West Philadelphia Community History Center, Graduate Hospital / Southwest Center City. 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 Discover your neighborhood's best match, anywhere. 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. This is how city residents have self-reported their race and ethnicity to the US Census. The introduction of electric streetcars in the 1890s further altered the area, as those with more resources moved farther out, leaving behind a more broadly based middle class. The majority race in Philadelphia overall is white at 62.2% of residents. Similar homes for rent in Washington Square West, Philadelphia. Demographic data shown in this section was gathered from the latest U.S. Census Bureau release, the 2020 . The city held public unwrappings in the nineteenth century and is home to several important collections, including the holdings of the Penn Museum. The West Indian population is largely concentrated in West Philadelphia, with smaller numbers in the Southwest and Northeast sections. 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. Age is classified into groups; each percentage listed is that groups percentage of the total population. The construction of the University City Science Center required the demolition of the residential Black Bottom neighborhood in the 1960s. In 1840, the property was transformed into a cemetery with an arboretum of over 1,000 trees. 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. The impetus for Penns expansion came from an infusion of government research funding along with the urban renewal dollars made available by the national Housing Act of 1949. 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. West Philadelphia drew national attention in 1978 and 1985 for violent clashes between police and an Afro-centric, back-to-nature group called MOVE. 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. 16.5%. The property was cut off from all city services, though sympathetic Philadelphians sometimes delivered food and other necessities. top Male population 45.52% Female population 54.48% Citizen US Born 88.53% Citizen not US Born 5.24% Not Citizen 6.24% Moved from Abroad 0.94% Moved from Same County 9.19% Moved from Same State 2.37% Moved from Different State 3.65% Same House as Last Year 83.85% Photo: Lexey Swall/GRAIN for The Pew Charitable Trusts 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. 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. 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 second story, projecting, semi-hexagonal bay is incorporated into this design, an element which defines the later rowhouses. 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. Finally the decision was made by Philadelphia Police Commissioner Gregore Sambor to drop an incendiary device on the bunkerlike structure to weaken MOVEs position. By 1950, West Philadelphia had lost a quarter of its Irish-American and 11 percent of its Italian-American population, while the African American population increased by 72 percent. Source & Methodology. The University of Pennsylvania was instrumental in coining the name "University City" as part of a 1950s urban renewal and gentrification effort. 7,043,501 and 7,680,859. These neighborhoods were subjected to redlining, a discriminatory practice that prevented residents of undesirable neighborhoods from procuring mortgages or loans and exacerbated the poverty. Methodology: More than half the world's population . (Author information current at time of publication.). Per capita is the best measure of the average spending power of each person in the city. Later renamed the Civic Center Museum, it closed in 1994. 215, 267, and 445. First, census tracts may vary from census year to census year, both with regards to boundaries and numbering. Total Population by Neighborhood#5 Copyright 2000-2023 Location Inc. Age Under 5 Years: 6.6% Finally, the Route 36 trolley is the longest trolley Green Line service. 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. 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. The map below highlights areas of . This article is about the present-day area. 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. For the first time in West Philadelphia, houses had garages. 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. Population by Neighborhood in Philadelphia There are 158 neighborhoods that are fully or partially contained within Philadelphia (144 fully and 14 partially). During the 1940s, the Warriors drew crowds to the Philadelphia Arena at Forty-Fifth and Market Streets. Some estimates presented here come from sample data, and thus have sampling errors that may render some apparent differences between geographies statistically indistinguishable. The Black residents of West Philadelphia were forced to contend with redlining and other discriminatory practices that limited access to capital and higher-paid employment for many residents. As of early 2017, large proposed developments in West Philadelphia include the 30th Street Station District and Schuylkill Yards. Since the dawn of rail transportation, Philadelphia has been home to a number of grand railroad stations. 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. U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: Philadelphia city, Pennsylvania QuickFacts Table (a) Includes persons reporting only one race (c) Economic Census - Puerto Rico data are not comparable to U.S. Economic Census data (b) Hispanics may be of any race, so also are included in applicable race categories The setback of these houses was 25 feet, allowing generous front yards. Today several bridges span the river, connecting West Philadelphia neighborhoods to the citys commercial heart. They were also discouraged, by legal means or by violence, from immediately following the white population into the growing suburbs. Households with a computer, percent, 2017-2021. 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. The educational status of the citys residents who are 18 and older. 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. The Emerging Suburb: West Philadelphia, 1850-1880, Pennsylvania History, Vol. The Route 11 trolley runs along Woodland Avenue from the transit tunnel at 40th Street to the city line at Cobbs Creek and continues into Darby Borough. 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. University of Pennsylvania Library and College Hall. The university was not the only force at work; its efforts were aided by a nationwide decline in crime and marginal increase in the desire for urban living among a segment of the professional classes. The new bridge spurred growth, prompting a network of industries, including stockyards, lumber mills, slaughterhouses, coal yards, foundries, and glass factories to serve the city across the river. The NeighborhoodScout search engine is covered under US Patents No. The land that makes up West Philadelphia was not always part of the city. The next most-common racial group is black at 20.3%. The Orlons, who recorded the hit song 'South Street,' formed at Overbrook High School in West Philadelphia in the 1950s. During the latter confrontation, police firebombed the group's headquarters, killing 11 people and destroying an entire block of Osage Avenue and Pine Street. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1990. Then on the far bank of the Schuylkill, port and mercantile infrastructure began to build up at this westward point of entry to the city. 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. 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. The Wynnefield neighborhood is a location frequently used by photographers and organizers of civic events. 1 non-Hispanic 2 excluding black and Asian Hispanics. The decline of the neighborhoods after World War II allowed many of these old homes to be preserved by neglect as they were not under the pressures of more central neighborhoods to develop during the urban renewal movement of the mid-twentieth century. Miller, Rogerand Joseph Siry. Its western majority African American neighborhoods were declining in population and median income. The law profession in Philadelphia dates back to the days of William Penn. Initial development was divided into block lots and sold in 1852 with the condition that "substantial stone or brick buildings" be erected. A bustling light industrial sector continued to grow south of Market Street on land adjacent to the river, relying on the Pennsylvania Railroads infrastructure around 30th Street Station to convey the sectors goods efficiently. Like the rest of the citys manufacturing sector, West Philadelphias industry enjoyed great diversity. Becoming Penn: The Pragmatic American University, 19502000. The demographic statistics for this exhibit have been compiled from Social Explorer by the staff of the University Archives of the University of Pennsylvania. Residents aged 25 to 44 earn $47,072, while those between 45 and 64 years old have a median wage of $59,126. What is the population of West Philadelphia? The Airport Line serves University City at University City Station in the University of Pennsylvania, going on to southernmost Southwest Philadelphia and the airport. One of the first homes built in West Philadelphia, in an area that was then Blockley Township, was William Hamiltons country estate, the Woodlands. 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. (For example, 84th Street becomes Hook Road when it crosses into Sharon Hill.) Retail districts lined every street where there was a station as well as along Market Street. Community opposition fell on deaf ears and the city demolished vacant houses, declared Black Bottom a blighted neighborhood, and purchased it through eminent domain. 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.
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