The Media/Wawa Line also serves University City and portions of Southwest Philadelphia before continuing to Media and points beyond. The demographic statistics presented here include all variables found in the "Comprehensive Reports" generated by Social Explorer for the census years since 1940. White 1 Hispanic 2 Black Asian Mixed 1 Other 1 -42.4% 35.3% 77.7% +6.3% 12.4% 6.12% +31.8% 42.9% 11.0% +3.8% 6.90% 3.14% +0.3% 2.05% 1.71% +0.2% 0.53% 0.28% 1 non-Hispanic 2 excluding black and Asian Hispanics Relative Ethno-Racial Composition by Age #3 From radios earliest days, Philadelphia-area college and high school students have tested its boundaries. In that year, 40% of the city's households were cost-burdened, a figure that is in line with many other major cities. 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. As African Americans began living in more neighborhoods, the white population began fleeing to the expanding suburbs. 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. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015. In West Philadelphia, this incorporated the West Philadelphia and Belmont districts as well as Blockley and Kingsessing Townships into the city. Along with a decrease in crime and a trend toward urban living, most of University City underwent gentrification. 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. Its western majority African American neighborhoods were declining in population and median income. Computer and Internet Use. The Route 34 trolley runs along Baltimore Avenue from Cobbs Creek at 61st Street to the transit tunnel at 40th Street in University City. 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. 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. Elementary schools include Morton McMichael Elementary School and Lea Elementary School. The then-scion of the family, William Hamilton (1745-1813), established the estates Georgian mansion and laid out. The North Philadelphia neighborhood, which straddles Germantown Avenue just west of Broad Street and Erie Avenue, has seen its population rise 4 percent (above the city's 1 percent increase), its housing prices rose 11 percent again above the citywide average. 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 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. In addition, one of Philadelphia's six streetcar lines, the Route 10 Green Line, transports commuters and students daily along Lancaster Avenue from 36th and Ludlow streets to 63rd and Malvern Avenue in Wynnefield. This gradual elevation makes the skyline of Center City visible from many points in West Philadelphia. The Philadelphia College of Pharmacy (now USciences) was the nation's first pharmacy college. 16.5%. The vintage year (e.g., V2022) refers to the final year of the series (2020 thru 2022). 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 street was unified by front yards, and enclosed by decorative iron fences. 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. 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. 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. New routes into the city aided this movement too, like the Chestnut Street bridge completed in 1866. 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. Other settlements followed, including Mantua Village, carved from the holdings of a local landowner, Judge Richard Peters (1743-1828), and laid out in 1809. ofGreaterPhiladelphia. 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. In May 1985, an attempt to evict MOVE again escalated to violence. 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. Professional, scientific, and technical services, Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islanders. 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 Airport Line serves University City at University City Station in the University of Pennsylvania, going on to southernmost Southwest Philadelphia and the airport. and the West Virginia border. The students of "West" were the children of middle-class black people, as well as of Irish, Jewish, Polish and other immigrant groups. 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% 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%). American Community Survey, U.S. Bureau of the Census, U.S. Department of Education, 50 state departments of education, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Federal Bureau of Investigation, 18,000+ local law enforcement agencies, Federal Housing Finance Agency, U.S. Geological Service, National Agricultural Statistics Service. The demographic statistics for this exhibit have been compiled from Social Explorer by the staff of the University Archives of the University of Pennsylvania. For a detailed map and demographic statistics for a specific census tract, click on a tract number in the map or as listed below: Immigration Surged The immigrant population spiked 59% in 17 years Shoppers at the Hung Vuong Supermarket on Washington Avenue in South Philadelphia. 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. Cultural venues include the Mann Music Center of the Performing Arts and the Bushfire Theater of the Performing Arts on 52nd Street. 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. Streetcars were electrified beginning in the 1890s and accelerated the suburbanization of West Philadelphia. 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. 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. At the time, the majority of residents were working classabout half immigrants from Ireland, Germany, and Englandand settlements of any density tapered off at what would become the boundaries of Fortieth Street, with the wealthy clustered along Walnut and Chestnut near this westward extremis. West Philadelphia was divided into townships and districts with independent governments. Unlike the omnibuses, the streetcars were on rails that provided faster and more efficient travel. The Darby Road also ran up to this point, granting access to communities like Chester farther down the Delaware River. US-born citizens make up 88.6% of the resident pool in West Philadelphia, while non-US-born citizens account for 5.29%. 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. There are 200,637 residents in West Philadelphia, with a median age of 33.1. 2023 University of Pennsylvania University Archives and Records Center, The West Philadelphia Community History Center is sponsored by the, University of Pennsylvania University Archives and Records Center. The El once powered the economic engine of West Philadelphia. First, census tracts may vary from census year to census year, both with regards to boundaries and numbering. People who identify as black are most likely to be living in the central places. This gradual elevation makes the skyline of Center City visible from many points in West Philadelphia. 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. 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. Later renamed the Civic Center Museum, it closed in 1994. Becoming Penn: The Pragmatic American University, 19502000. The law profession in Philadelphia dates back to the days of William Penn. As of early 2017, large proposed developments in West Philadelphia include the 30th Street Station District and Schuylkill Yards. 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. 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. [citation needed] Harrity Elementary School is a district-owned school operated by Mastery Charter Schools.[6]. Households with a computer, percent, 2017-2021. The streets were once lined with American Chestnut and walnut trees that touched across the five lanes of roadway, but many were removed due to Chestnut blight and replaced with a mix of sycamore and poplar trees. 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. 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. With firefighters fearful of being fired upon, the blaze was allowed to burn. The property was cut off from all city services, though sympathetic Philadelphians sometimes delivered food and other necessities. Finally, note that Social Explorer has included in its Comprehensive Reports most, but not all, of the variables available for each census year. 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). 215, 267, and 445. 47, No. These neighborhoods were subjected to redlining, a discriminatory practice that prevented residents of undesirable neighborhoods from procuring mortgages or loans and exacerbated the poverty. 1 Baths Ba; 320 S. 10th Street. 85.6%. 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. West Philadelphia has about 75 of Philadelphia's 196 blue historic markers, which note historically important birthplaces, homes, business and other places. 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 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. 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. mile) Land Area (in sq. 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. 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. 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. 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. Other US patent applications are currently pending. 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. 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. A reinforced, bunkerlike structure built on the roof supported this belief. 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. The Cynwyd Line is a limited-service express line from Center City to the Bala Cynwyd neighborhood of Lower Merion Township. The city held public unwrappings in the nineteenth century and is home to several important collections, including the holdings of the Penn Museum. The Callowhill Depot built by the Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company to house their fleet of streetcars. Marsh, Margaret. . 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. 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). Two other trolley lines originally ran through West Philly. Asian and Hispanic residents may identify with one of the more specific subcategories. 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. 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. Demographic data shown in this section was gathered from the latest U.S. Census Bureau release, the 2020 . West Philadelphia's streets are laid out in a modified grid. 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. Age is classified into groups; each percentage listed is that group's percentage of the total population. In the following decade, farther to the east, general violence continued to rise, as it did in the rest of the country. 2020 (latest available). 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. DJs have shaped musical tastes since the 1950s, broadcasting from stations such as WFIL, originally located at 4548 Market Street (the Enterprise Center in 2016). 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. By 1840, the tract was only ninety-two acres. (Author information current at time of publication.). In 1854, the Act of Consolidation was signed, aligning Philadelphias borders with those of Philadelphia County. Philadelphia was at the forefront of the early nursing profession and its prestigious nursing schools set new standards for professionalism in the field. Penn also invested in local public schools, founding the Sadie Alexander School, for pre-K through eighth grade. View All Data Tools and Apps The renowned Penn Relays draw high school and college track and field athletes from around the country. This situation was counterpoised by the rise of University City, which was quickly becoming a rival for Center City in term of jobs and investment. The world view has basic facts, trade, and projections by country. 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. In 1872 the university moved to a new campus near Spruce and Thirty-Fourth Streets in West Philadelphia. Follow Backgrounders on Twitter The upgrades to campus were impressive. A plethora of recreational bike trails and a bike sharing program provide cyclists with new options in the twenty first century. Today several bridges span the river, connecting West Philadelphia neighborhoods to the citys commercial heart. 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 main thoroughfare, Market Street, runs East and West, paralleled to the north and south by smaller streets named for tree species. 302 South 12th 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. The NeighborhoodScout search engine is covered under US Patents No. In contrast, people younger than 25 and those older than 65 earn less, at $35,844 and $33,684, respectively. 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". West Poplar; Philadelphia Population Statistics. Scope: population of Pennsylvania and Philadelphia -40% -20% -0% +20% % ref. Of this, 45.85% are males and 54.15% are females. 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. West Philadelphia drew national attention in 1978 and 1985 for violent clashes between police and an Afro-centric, back-to-nature group called MOVE. Abraham Browers innovative omnibus service, introduced to Philadelphia in 1831, allowed new settlers speedy access into the central city. The area's public schools are operated by the School District of Philadelphia. Philadelphia police are investigating the fatal shooting of a 44-year-old man in Germantown. 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. 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 western reaches of West Philadelphia included miles of two-story rowhouses with bay windows above classical columned front porches. Other major thoroughfares include Chestnut and Walnut Streets, which together form Pennsylvania Route 3. The educational institutions and city planners wanted to establish a research park like Stanford Universitys Industrial Park to revitalize the community. West Philadelphia contains many places of worship. 2 (April 1980), pp. 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. Estimates are not comparable to other geographic levels due to methodology differences that may exist between different data sources. [All 13 serve 30th Street Station on the edge of West Philadelphia.] 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. number of members in ethno-racial group. Route 36 terminates in Southwest Philadelphia at Island Avenue west and 73rd Street, near the Philadelphia International Airport.