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 police department made matters worse by becoming the first U.S. law enforcement institution to bomb its own city. In 2008, the area around the Please Touch Museum, Philadelphia Zoo, and the Mann Music Center was designated the Centennial District: an area to be revitalized by the country's 250th birthday in 2026. [4], The Philadelphia Police Department divides West Philadelphia into four patrol districts: the 16th, 18th, 19th, and 92nd.[5]. Professional, scientific, and technical services, Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islanders. 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. An official website of the United States government. Starting at $1,020 USD /mo. 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 device ignited fuel in a generator on the roof, causing a fire that spread through the neighborhood. West Philadelphia High School's student population of 372 students has declined by 22% over five school years. West Poplar; Philadelphia Population Statistics. West Philadelphia, nicknamed West Philly, is a section of the city of Philadelphia. 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 View All Data Tools and Apps Promise Zones are advertised as entities organized to "leverage federal resources to increase economic activity and opportunity, create jobs, improve education and reduce violent crime. A map showing West Philadelphia in relation to the rest of the city. By sending this Report you agree to NeighborhoodScout's, Real Estate in Popular Philadelphia Neighborhoods. "Match Any Neighborhood" calculates the Match Level of one neighborhood to another using more than 200 characteristics of each neighborhood. 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. 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 area's public schools are operated by the School District of Philadelphia. Completed in 1907, this elevated subway line linked West Philadelphia, Millbourne and Upper Darby to Center City and then later to Frankford. of Pa. U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit, Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, Grand Army of the Republic Civil War Museum and Library, National Museum of American Jewish History, University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=West_Philadelphia&oldid=1128789657, Wikipedia indefinitely semi-protected pages, Short description is different from Wikidata, Pages using infobox settlement with no coordinates, Articles needing additional references from July 2017, All articles needing additional references, Articles to be expanded from December 2009, Articles with unsourced statements from July 2009, Articles needing additional references from December 2010, Articles with unsourced statements from September 2012, Articles with unsourced statements from November 2010, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Non-Hispanic Black or African-American: 164,921 (76.2%), Non-Hispanic White/European: 37,010 (17.1%), This page was last edited on 22 December 2022, at 00:50. 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% Count White 1 Hispanic 2 Black Asian Mixed 1 Other 1 4.4% 629 2.8% 400 87.3% 12.4k 2.8% 395 2.2% 312 0.5% 71. miles) 13.6 : Sex : Total Population: 275,579 : Male: 128,893: 46.8% 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. The law profession in Philadelphia dates back to the days of William Penn. The topography of West Philadelphia is composed of rolling hills rising slowly from the Schuylkill River toward Cobbs Creek in the west and toward Belmont Plateau in the northwest. Later Tudor and Spanish Revival houses, and the Art Deco influenced apartment houses also filled in available lot spaces between developments and made it possible for more middle-class Philadelphians to move to the area. The vintage year (e.g., V2022) refers to the final year of the series (2020 thru 2022). The 77th Street in Overbrook is not contiguous with the 77th Street in the column of streets that ends with 90th Street in Southwest Philadelphia. This is how city residents have self-reported their race and ethnicity to the US Census. University Archives staff created the census tract maps found here. Computer and Internet Use. The most comprehensive, authoritative reference source ever created for the Philadelphia region. From designs evoking Greek temples built at the dawn of the automobile age to the ubiquitous utilitarian structures of the twenty-first century, gas stations have become a fixture of the Philadelphia area's landscape. 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. ofGreaterPhiladelphia. 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. Discover your neighborhood's best match, anywhere. This set the living pattern apart from its counterparts in North and South Philadelphia, where row houses were interspersed with factories and warehouses. MOVE, founded in 1972 by West Philadelphia native John Africa, was originally headquartered in the Powelton Village neighborhood. 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. The building, which still sports a large satellite dish on its roof, is now home to the West Philadelphia Enterprise Center. Despite the industry clustered along the areas shores, development in this period remained largely residential in the rest of West Philadelphia. Throughout the eighteenth century much of what would become West Philadelphia remained sparsely populated farmland. The students of "West" were the children of middle-class black people, as well as of Irish, Jewish, Polish and other immigrant groups. Retail districts lined every street where there was a station as well as along Market Street. 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. 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. The then-scion of the family, William Hamilton (1745-1813), established the estates Georgian mansion and laid out. It was purchased by the Woodlands Cemetery Company that year for use as a rural cemetery. 77th and 86th Streets run just a few blocks before they leave the city for surrounding jurisdictions. 2.57. Combined, these trolley routes convey more than 150,000 passengers daily, and operate 24-hour schedules, even in blizzards. The Woodlands Cemetery, which is located near the west bank of the Schuylkill River, was originally the estate of Andrew Hamilton who bought the property in 1735 from descendants of Blockley Township's founder, William Warner, who hailed from Brockley, England. In the period after World War II, many white residents and industrial jobs left the city for its suburbs, leaving in their wake overwhelmingly black communities with few employment opportunities. . Becoming Penn: The Pragmatic American University, 19502000. 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. Elementary schools include Morton McMichael Elementary School and Lea Elementary School. QuickFacts provides statistics for all states and counties, and for cities and towns with a population of 5,000 or more. The Darby Road also ran up to this point, granting access to communities like Chester farther down the Delaware River. By the 1930s one of the more notable developments in West Philadelphia was the growing number of Black residents and the discriminatory pressures that boxed them into an intensely segregated area stretching south to Market Street, west to Fifty-Ninth Street, and bounded to the north and east by the main line of the Pennsylvania Railroad and the river beyond it. West Philadelphia High School was one of the biggest and most diverse schools in state when it was opened in 1911. West Philadelphia did not exist until the middle of the nineteenth century. The Media/Wawa Line also serves University City and portions of Southwest Philadelphia before continuing to Media and points beyond. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. 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. There are 200,637 residents in West Philadelphia, with a median age of 33.1. 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. There are more white people in the northwest areas of the city. The main thoroughfare, Market Street, runs East and West, paralleled to the north and south by smaller streets named for tree species. Language other than English spoken at home, percent of persons age 5 years+, 2017-2021. University City is the easternmost portion of West Philadelphia, encompassing several Philadelphia universities. 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. (For example, 84th Street becomes Hook Road when it crosses into Sharon Hill.) 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. 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% Demographic data shown in this section was gathered from the latest U.S. Census Bureau release, the 2020 . 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 Route 34 trolley runs along Baltimore Avenue from Cobbs Creek at 61st Street to the transit tunnel at 40th Street in University City. 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. 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. Since the dawn of rail transportation, Philadelphia has been home to a number of grand railroad stations. The Paoli/Thorndale Line serves Overbrook and Wynnefield, and continues to the Main Line communities and Paoli. The Callowhill Depot built by the Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company to house their fleet of streetcars. Follow Backgrounders on Twitter The demographic statistics for this exhibit have been compiled fromSocial Explorerby the staff of theUniversity Archivesof theUniversity of Pennsylvania. New routes into the city aided this movement too, like the Chestnut Street bridge completed in 1866. This gradual elevation makes the skyline of Center City visible from many points in West Philadelphia. 85.6%. St. Thomas More High School for Boys at 47th and Wyalusing Avenue was closed in 1975 and now houses the Sr Clara Muhammad School. Lancaster Avenue begins at 34th street near Drexel University; runs westward to the city line at City Avenue; and continues on as U.S. Route 30 to Lancaster, York, Pittsburgh. A series of wooden and iron bridges were constructed to replace it until the modern-era span was completed in 1932. Using interactive maps and data reports, Social Explorer makes available detailed information from the United States Census, beginning with the first census of 1790 and continuing to the present. . Documentationon the census data and variables is available onSocial Explorer. Professional basketball has a long history in the Philadelphia region, from the first professional league, formedin 1898,to the NBA. Here, middle neighborhoods are places like East Mt. As African Americans began living in more neighborhoods, the white population began fleeing to the expanding suburbs. These houses are typical of the early 20th-century developments in West Philadelphia, and are unified by rhythmic patterning of porch and gable features. 2 (April 1980), pp. With firefighters fearful of being fired upon, the blaze was allowed to burn. Scope: population of Pennsylvania and Philadelphia -40% -20% -0% +20% % ref. For more information, please visit the 2021 5-year ACS Comparison Guidance page. Other US patent applications are currently pending. West Philadelphia drew national attention in 1978 and 1985 for violent clashes between police and an Afro-centric, back-to-nature group called MOVE. The street was unified by front yards, and enclosed by decorative iron fences. The process began during World War I, as Black migrants arrived in the city in increasing numbers. US-born citizens make up 88.6% of the resident pool in West Philadelphia, while non-US-born citizens account for 5.29%. The Wynnefield neighborhood is a location frequently used by photographers and organizers of civic events. The property was cut off from all city services, though sympathetic Philadelphians sometimes delivered food and other necessities. [All 13 serve 30th Street Station on the edge of West Philadelphia.] The educational institutions and city planners wanted to establish a research park like Stanford Universitys Industrial Park to revitalize the community. The group resurfaced in the Cobbs Creek neighborhood in 1981 and was again the subject of neighborhood complaints. Local children's programming in the Philadelphia area flourished during the "Golden Age of Television," from the rise of commercial broadcasting after World War II to the early 1970s. 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. 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. Both College Hall and the library remain standing and are West Philadelphia landmarks. 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. 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). The Woodlands mansion and cemetery continue to operate today. Second, the questions asked by census takers usually vary from one census year to the next. 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. Demographic data shown in this section was gathered from the latest U.S. Census Bureau release, the 2020 American Community Survey. 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. Airy, West Oak Lane, East Oak Lane, Rhawnhurst, Germantown, Mayfair, Tacony, Wynnefield and Olney. 1 Beds Bds; . Scope: population of Philadelphia and Allegheny West. 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. 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. 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. The construction of the University City Science Center required the demolition of the residential Black Bottom neighborhood in the 1960s. 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". In later decades, many of these large row houses were subdivided into apartments and were joined by larger multiunit buildings as the neighborhoods continued to boom. A plethora of recreational bike trails and a bike sharing program provide cyclists with new options in the twenty first century. Originally, Philadelphia city extended only from the Delaware River west to the Schuylkill River and from Vine Street to South Street. West Philadelphia was divided into townships and districts with independent governments. Jake Blumgart is a reporter for WHYYs PlanPhilly. Measuring America's People, Places, and Economy. This postindustrial economic vise resulted in the kind of divestment and shadow economy dealings that blighted many other inner city neighborhoods. The land also houses over 750 historic plants and trees, some grown from seeds brought to Philadelphia by the 1804 Lewis and Clark expedition. After Hamiltons death, much of the land was sold for residential and commercial development. 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. According to the 2010 census, 216,433 people live among the ZIP codes of 19104, 19131, 19139, 19143 and 19151.[1](Map). Philadelphia. Streetcar suburbs blossomed throughout the Philadelphia area in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, as streetcar lines radiating from the city's heart allowed people to move further into its fringes. The Airport Line serves University City at University City Station in the University of Pennsylvania, going on to southernmost Southwest Philadelphia and the airport. Small communities began to spring up to support these businesses, like Hamiltonville in 1804. Philadelphia Population & Age Distribution Age. U.S. District Court for the Eastern Dist. Outbreaks of violence, like the 1844 Nativist Riots in Kensington and Southwark, exposed the Philadelphia police departments inability to police areas outside of center city, spurring calls for consolidation.