west philadelphia demographics

. Penn took full advantage of postwar federal largesse, competing successfully with its counterparts in higher education for research and development grantsespecially after the flood of funding following the Soviet Unions Sputnik success in 1957. Total Population by Neighborhood#5 Developers found they could increase profits by catering to this emerging group, shrinking lot sizes, and building more compact, less ornate houses. on the 200 block of West Queen Lane, in Philadelphia's . Second, the questions asked by census takers usually vary from one census year to the next. Additionally, 6.11% of the population is represented by non-citizens. Follow Backgrounders on Twitter 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. The site of Philadelphia General Hospital became the multi-institution Philadelphia Center for Health Care Sciences. In 1850, it was destroyed by fire. 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. The upgrades to campus were impressive. The search engine finds the neighborhoods that are the optimum fit to the set of criteria you choose. With other anchor institutions in the area, it supported development of the University City District to provide further amenities. For more information, please visit the 2021 5-year ACS Comparison Guidance page. 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 Paoli/Thorndale Line serves Overbrook and Wynnefield, and continues to the Main Line communities and Paoli. 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. This gradual elevation makes the skyline of Center City visible from many points in West Philadelphia. Rodin, Judith. In Elegy (for MOVE and Philadelphia), Philadelphia poet and playwright Sonia Sanchez questions the paradoxical nature of a city that seemingly set itself and its people ablaze near Sixty-Second Street and Osage Avenue. In 1872 the university moved to a new campus near Spruce and Thirty-Fourth Streets in West Philadelphia. Living in same house 1 year ago, percent of persons age 1 year+, 2017-2021. 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). Source & Methodology. The teacher population of 32 teachers has declined by 17% over five school years. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. 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. All of this information was taken from the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau. 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. 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. 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. The city held public unwrappings in the nineteenth century and is home to several important collections, including the holdings of the Penn Museum. University City is the easternmost portion of West Philadelphia, encompassing several Philadelphia universities. . The two 77th Streets (as well as all numbered streets after 58th) are miles apart. The 36 trolley leaves the 40th Street transit tunnel running along Woodland Avenue until 49th Street where it turns south to continue along Lindbergh Boulevard turning at Elmwood Avenue starting at 55th Street. Other US patent applications are currently pending. 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. 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. 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. 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. The land also houses over 750 historic plants and trees, some grown from seeds brought to Philadelphia by the 1804 Lewis and Clark expedition. Penn also invested in local public schools, founding the Sadie Alexander School, for pre-K through eighth grade. Mummies have captured the imagination and sparked the curiosity of Philadelphians since the Colonial Era. 2020 (latest available). 1944), who was born and raised in West Philadelphia, Penn promised to not repeat the aggressive steps taken in the 1950s and 1960s. 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. The demographic statistics presented here include all variables found in the "Comprehensive Reports" generated by Social Explorer for the census years since 1940. Philadelphia was at the forefront of the early nursing profession and its prestigious nursing schools set new standards for professionalism in the field. View All Data Tools and Apps 99-146. 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 Alhough there are no officially defined boundaries, it is generally considered to reach from the western shore of the Schuylkill River, to City Avenue to the northwest, Cobbs Creek to the southwest, and the SEPTA Media/Wawa Line to the south. 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. This is how city residents have self-reported their race and ethnicity to the US Census. Community groups have called on SEPTA to reopen closed Regional Rail stations in areas further away from the Market-Frankford Line and the Broad Street Line. Chinese and Koreans, were living in the Oxford Circle/Castor section of lower Northeast Philadelphia (ZIP code 19149), West Philadelphia (19104), and Chinatown (19106 . 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 majority race in Philadelphia overall is white at 62.2% of residents. [3] One of the major retail strips in West Philadelphia, it is lined with shops and restaurants through to 64th Street in the Wynnefield neighborhood. After several high-profile murders of Penn graduate students living in the mixed- race neighborhoods beyond the campus borders, which had lost much of their white population during the 1990s, the university began to again be active in the community. 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. From radios earliest days, Philadelphia-area college and high school students have tested its boundaries. 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. For the first time in West Philadelphia, houses had garages. The demographic statistics for this exhibit have been compiled fromSocial Explorerby the staff of theUniversity Archivesof theUniversity of Pennsylvania. After a slow start, the Science Center eventually prospered. The Darby Road also ran up to this point, granting access to communities like Chester farther down the Delaware River. 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. Etienne, Harley F. Pushing Back the Gates: Neighborhood Perspectives on University-Driven Revitalization in West Philadelphia. Unlike the omnibuses, the streetcars were on rails that provided faster and more efficient travel. 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. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2011. Starting at $1,140 USD /mo. 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. 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 western reaches of West Philadelphia included miles of two-story rowhouses with bay windows above classical columned front porches. Statistics are provided for West Philadelphia as a whole and by individual census tract. 85.6%. 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 second story, projecting, semi-hexagonal bay is incorporated into this design, an element which defines the later rowhouses. 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. After that, the population exploded from eleven thousand in 1850 to twenty-three thousand in 1860. Since the dawn of rail transportation, Philadelphia has been home to a number of grand railroad stations. The device ignited fuel in a generator on the roof, causing a fire that spread through the neighborhood. 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. MOVE, founded in 1972 by West Philadelphia native John Africa, was originally headquartered in the Powelton Village neighborhood. 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). Foreign Born residents have immigrated to the United States from another country and may or may not be naturalized citizens. 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. 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. The houses melded the suburban principles of front porches and greenspace with the urban rowhouse form, producing profitable, yet desirable, middle-class suburban housing. 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. 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. 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. University Archives staff created the census tract maps found here. In May 1985, an attempt to evict MOVE again escalated to violence. Both College Hall and the library remain standing and are West Philadelphia landmarks. 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. 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. 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. One of the aggravating factors in this change has been the recent reconstruction of the EL which, due to detours of the "number streets" or numbered northsouth thoroughfares and closure of large portions of Market Street, have led to many remaining businesses failing. In first decades of the twenty-first century, parts of West Philadelphia saw a revival. This gradual elevation makes the skyline of Center City visible from many points in West Philadelphia. The earliest developments began in 1850 and the final period of mass construction ended in 1930. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1990. After generating area maps from Google Maps,they added census boundaries and census tract labels as needed. 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. [4], The Philadelphia Police Department divides West Philadelphia into four patrol districts: the 16th, 18th, 19th, and 92nd.[5]. By 1840, the tract was only ninety-two acres. They were also necessary to create a more walkable environment and additional housing for a growing student body. Later renamed the Civic Center Museum, it closed in 1994. We apologize for the inconvenience. Check out how our partner Point2 can help you generate more leads by making your listings and profile stand out. More than half the world's population . As African Americans began living in more neighborhoods, the white population began fleeing to the expanding suburbs. The street was unified by front yards, and enclosed by decorative iron fences. Retail districts lined every street where there was a station as well as along Market Street. 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. But the expansion into surrounding residential neighborhoods embittered many residents. But he abandoned the idea by 1684, two years after his arrival. Select your ideal criteria and let Scout do the rest. The Philadelphia College of Pharmacy (now USciences) was the nation's first pharmacy college. Age is classified into groups; each percentage listed is that group's percentage of the total population. U.S. District Court for the Eastern Dist. 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. A plethora of recreational bike trails and a bike sharing program provide cyclists with new options in the twenty first century. As African Americans began living in more neighborhoods, the white population began fleeing to the expanding suburbs. 2.57. For the 1844-54 legal entity, see, Neighborhood of Philadelphia in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Starting at $1,020 USD /mo. Starting with the first wave of Irish immigrants in the early 19th century, West Philadelphia was home to large numbers of European immigrants and their descendants. Per capita is the best measure of the average spending power of each person in the city. 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. The next most-common racial group is black at 20.3%. Rural cemeteries were promoted in the mid-nineteenth century as a solution to crowded city churchyard and municipal cemeteries that also provided residents of the citys crowded center with green space for recreation and fresh air. The West Indian population is largely concentrated in West Philadelphia, with smaller numbers in the Southwest and Northeast sections. As of early 2017, large proposed developments in West Philadelphia include the 30th Street Station District and Schuylkill Yards. The University of Pennsylvania was instrumental in coining the name "University City" as part of a 1950s urban renewal and gentrification effort. During the 1940s, the Warriors drew crowds to the Philadelphia Arena at Forty-Fifth and Market Streets. It holds the graves of many famous Philadelphians. Population : 275,579 : Population Density (per sq. miles) 13.6 : Sex : Total Population: 275,579 : Male: 128,893: 46.8% West Philadelphia was divided into townships and districts with independent governments. 7,043,501 and 7,680,859. Many young professionals and families have moved into the area. US-born citizens make up 88.6% of the resident pool in West Philadelphia, while non-US-born citizens account for 5.29%. The Route 34 trolley runs along Baltimore Avenue from Cobbs Creek at 61st Street to the transit tunnel at 40th Street in University City. Some, like the University of Pennsylvania's School of Nursing, continue to educate men and women in the field. The group refused to leave and a year-long blockade followed. An alternate definition includes all city land west of the Schuylkill; this would also include Southwest Philadelphia and its neighborhoods. Originally, Philadelphia city extended only from the Delaware River west to the Schuylkill River and from Vine Street to South Street. In the latter decades of the twentieth century West Philadelphia kept changing as the white population continued to drain out of the city. Founded in 1897, the Commercial Museum promoted the merits of international trade. 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. 30 Years Later, I'm Still Trying To Make Sense Of The MOVE Bombing (National Public Radio), PhilaPlace: Association of Islamic Charitable Projects (AICP) An Interview with Linda Hauber (Historical Society of Pennsylvania). The Route 10 trolley runs along Lancaster Avenue from 63rd and Malvern Avenue through to 36th and Ludlow Streets where a portal allows access to the subway tunnel into Center City. Philadelphia played a key role in the birth of the American pharmaceutical industry during the early nineteenth century. 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). Data.census.gov, Census Data API, and Census Search will be unavailable due to scheduled maintenance from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. West Philadelphia High School's student population of 372 students has declined by 22% over five school years. Language other than English spoken at home, percent of persons age 5 years+, 2017-2021. The students of "West" were the children of middle-class black people, as well as of Irish, Jewish, Polish and other immigrant groups. Community opposition fell on deaf ears and the city demolished vacant houses, declared Black Bottom a blighted neighborhood, and purchased it through eminent domain. Over the city's three centuries, it has evolved into a diverse and vital aspect of the city community. Other settlements followed, including Mantua Village, carved from the holdings of a local landowner, Judge Richard Peters (1743-1828), and laid out in 1809. Age Under 5 Years: 6.6% 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. West Philadelphia contains many places of worship. Suburban Lives. During the latter confrontation, police firebombed the group's headquarters, killing 11 people and destroying an entire block of Osage Avenue and Pine Street. The main thoroughfare, Market Street, runs East and West, paralleled to the north and south by smaller streets named for tree species. When the smoke cleared, sixty-two houses had been destroyed and eleven people, including founder John Africa and five children, were dead. In 1854, the Act of Consolidation was signed, aligning Philadelphias borders with those of Philadelphia County. Today many parts of West Philadelphia retain the character of those early streetcar suburbs. Only two MOVE members, Ramona Africa and a child, Birdie Africa, survived the blaze. 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. University of Pennsylvania Library and College Hall. Route 36 terminates in Southwest Philadelphia at Island Avenue west and 73rd Street, near the Philadelphia International Airport. It stood divided, like much of the city and the country, between the haves and the have nots. 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. Immigration Surged The immigrant population spiked 59% in 17 years Shoppers at the Hung Vuong Supermarket on Washington Avenue in South Philadelphia. In the following decade, farther to the east, general violence continued to rise, as it did in the rest of the country. Public sector employment in city government and the school district offered a wide range of employment opportunities for Black workers, from professional positions as managers and teachers to jobs that required less formal education, like sanitation and transportation. Despite the industry clustered along the areas shores, development in this period remained largely residential in the rest of West Philadelphia. None of the households in Philadelphia, PA reported speaking a non-English language at home as their primary shared language. Throughout the eighteenth century much of what would become West Philadelphia remained sparsely populated farmland. Abraham Browers innovative omnibus service, introduced to Philadelphia in 1831, allowed new settlers speedy access into the central city. There are 200,637 residents in West Philadelphia, with a median age of 33.1. 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. Connecting the Past with the Present, Building Community, Creating a Legacy, TheEncyclopedia This section compares the 50 most populous of those to each other. A series of wooden and iron bridges were constructed to replace it until the modern-era span was completed in 1932. 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 El once powered the economic engine of West Philadelphia. Users should exercise caution when comparing 2017-2021 ACS 5-year estimates to other ACS estimates. West Philadelphia did not exist until the middle of the nineteenth century. 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. The demographic statistics for this exhibit have been compiled from Social Explorer by the staff of the University Archives of the University of Pennsylvania. 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. Similar homes for rent in Washington Square West, Philadelphia. The educational status of the citys residents who are 18 and older.