Mount Airy, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

For other uses, see Mount Airy
Mount Airy
Mount Airy is the name of several places in the United States of America:*Mount Airy, Georgia*Mount Airy, Louisiana*Mount Airy, Maryland* Mount Airy , listed on the NRHP in Maryland...

.

Mount Airy is a neighborhood

Neighbourhood

A neighbourhood or neighborhood is a geographically localised community within a larger city, town or suburb. Neighbourhoods are often social communities with considerable face-to-face interaction among members. "Researchers have not agreed on an exact definition...

of Northwest Philadelphia

Northwest Philadelphia

Northwest Philadelphia is a section of the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The official boundary is Stenton Avenue to the north, the Schuylkill river to the south, Spring Ln to the west, and Wister Street to the east. The area is divided by Wissahickon Creek into two subsections...

in the state

U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

of Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

Boundaries

Mount Airy is bounded on the northwest by the Cresheim Valley

Cresheim Creek

Cresheim Creek is a creek in southeastern Pennsylvania. Rising at Hill Crest in Cheltenham Township , it runs about 2.7 miles southwest, passing through part of Northwest Philadelphia and dividing Mount Airy from Chestnut Hill, before emptying into the Wissahickon Creek at...

, which is part of Fairmount Park

Fairmount Park

Fairmount Park is the municipal park system of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It consists of 63 parks, with , all overseen by the Philadelphia Department of Parks and Recreation, successor to the Fairmount Park Commission in 2010.-Fairmount Park proper:...

. Beyond this lies Chestnut Hill. On the west side is the Wissahickon Gorge

Wissahickon Creek

Wissahickon Creek is a stream in southeastern Pennsylvania. Rising in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, it runs about 23 miles passing through and dividing Northwest Philadelphia before emptying into the Schuylkill River at Philadelphia...

, which is also part of Fairmount Park

Fairmount Park

, beyond which lies Roxborough

Roxborough, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Roxborough is a neighborhood in the Northwest Philadelphia section of the United States city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is bordered to the southwest, along the Schuylkill River, by the neighborhood of Manayunk, along the northeast by the Wissahickon Creek section of Fairmount Park, and to...

and Manayunk

Manayunk, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Manayunk is a neighborhood in the northwestern section of the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the United States. Located on the banks of the Schuylkill River, it contains the first canal begun in the United States . The area's name comes from the language of the Lenape Indians...

. Germantown borders the southeast of Mount Airy, and Stenton Avenue marks the northeast border. Beyond Stenton Avenue is Cedarbrook

Cedarbrook, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Cedarbrook is a neighborhood located in the North Philadelphia section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It is also sometimes said to be in Northwest Philadelphia, owing to its rather northwestern location on Philadelphia's letter-y-like outline....

and West Oak Lane

West Oak Lane, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

West Oak Lane is a neighborhood in the Northwest Philadelphia section of Philadelphia. It is located between East Mount Airy, East Germantown, Cheltenham, Montgomery County, East Oak Lane, and Fern Rock. Ogontz Avenue runs generally north, then northwest as the spine of the neighborhood and the...

ZIP codes

The USPS

United States Postal Service

The United States Postal Service is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for providing postal service in the United States...

does not officially correlate neighborhood names to Philadelphia ZIP code

ZIP Code

ZIP codes are a system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service since 1963. The term ZIP, an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan, is properly written in capital letters and was chosen to suggest that the mail travels more efficiently, and therefore more quickly, when senders use the...

s (all are called simply "Philadelphia" or "Phila"). However, the 19119 ZIP code is almost entirely coterminous with the cultural-consensus boundaries of Mount Airy.

Relationship to Germantown

There is no "official" boundary between Mount Airy and Germantown. The most common consensus is that Johnson Street is the de facto boundary; however, Washington Lane could also be viewed as a boundary. The question is moot, however, as the two neighborhoods blend together very gradually. Historically, the entire area was part of the German Township

Germantown Township, Pennsylvania

Germantown Township, also known as German Township, is a defunct township that was located in Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania. The municipality ceased to exist and was incorporated into the City of Philadelphia following the passage of the Act of Consolidation, 1854.-History:Germantown Township,...

. Many buildings in Mount Airy carry the identity and even the name of Germantown in one way or another. For example, the Unitarian Church of Germantown, the Germantown Jewish Center, the Germantown Christian Assembly, and the Germantown Montessori School are all in Mount Airy, yet also belong culturally to Germantown. Parts of the Battle of Germantown

Battle of Germantown

The Battle of Germantown, a battle in the Philadelphia campaign of the American Revolutionary War, was fought on October 4, 1777, at Germantown, Pennsylvania between the British army led by Sir William Howe and the American army under George Washington...

in 1777 occurred throughout Mount Airy. The special relationship linking the two has its roots in the time before the Act of Consolidation

Act of Consolidation, 1854

The Act of Consolidation, more formally known as the act of February 2, 1854 , was enacted by General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and approved February 2, 1854 by Governor William Bigler...

, when Germantown was a borough separate from the City of Philadelphia, and its rural environs were what is now Mount Airy.

History

William Allen

William Allen (loyalist)

William Allen was a wealthy merchant, Chief Justice of the Province of Pennsylvania, and mayor of Philadelphia. At the time of the American Revolution, Allen was one of the wealthiest and most powerful men in Philadelphia...

, a prominent Philadelphia merchant and Chief Justice of the Province of Pennsylvania

Province of Pennsylvania

The Province of Pennsylvania, also known as Pennsylvania Colony, was founded in British America by William Penn on March 4, 1681 as dictated in a royal charter granted by King Charles II...

, created his summer estate and mansion on Germantown Avenue at Allens Lane in 1750, and the area eventually took the building's name, Mount Airy, as its own. Before this, the area which makes up the modern neighborhood of Mount Airy was part of two sections of the original Germantown Township (which covered all of Germantown, Mount Airy, and Chestnut Hill), Cresheim and Beggarstown

Beggarstown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Beggarstown or Bettelhausen was a small community that was located in the present day neighborhood of Mount Airy in Northwest Philadelphia in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania...

.

The village or Dorfshaft of Krisheim (also known as Cresheim) has its origins in the original land divisions of Germantown Township

Germantown Township, Pennsylvania

in 1689. It was a section of the township that was allotted to a group of original Germantown settlers who acquired rights to land either directly or indirectly from William Penn. It covered the area from Stenton to Wissahickon Avenues and from Mermaid Lane to roughly Sedgwick Street. The name is derived from a town known today as Kriegsheim in the Palatine in Germany which was the hometown of a few German Quaker families who had settled in Germantown in the 1680s. Throughout much of the 18th century, this area of Germantown Township was known in the land and tax records as simply Cresheim or Cresham. It was at the beginning of the 19th century that the name Mount Airy began to replace Cresheim.

Beggarstown

Beggarstown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Beggarstown or Bettelhausen was a small community that was located in the present day neighborhood of Mount Airy in Northwest Philadelphia in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania...

(also Beggars-town or Beggar Town), an area centered along Germantown Avenue between Gorgas Lane and Cliveden Street, was formed out of the so-called "Sidelands" of Germantown. The Sidelands were a section of Germantown Township that had been set aside so that the owners of lots in the center of Germantown could have access to an equal share of land in the entire village of Germantown section of Germantown Township. The portion from which Beggarstown grew covered the area from Upsal Street to roughly Sedgwick Street, Stenton Avenue, and Wissahickon Avenue. As the Germantown village filled up, settlers began to move northwest along Germantown Avenue. By the 1730s and 1740s, the Sidelands area was subdivided into smaller house lots. An account published in 1770 states that the area received its name as a result of its first resident's begging for money to build his house, which later became the home of the Germantown Church of the Brethren

Church of the Brethren

The Church of the Brethren is a Christian denomination originating from the Schwarzenau Brethren organized in 1708 by eight persons led by Alexander Mack, in Schwarzenau, Bad Berleburg, Germany. The Brethren movement began as a melding of Radical Pietist and Anabaptist ideas during the...

. The name for this area disappeared by the late 19th century, and it was sometimes called Pelham, Germantown, or Mount Airy.

Much of modern Mount Airy was developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, spreading out from Germantown Avenue and two railroad lines. Large three-story, gray-stone Victorian, colonial revival, and Norman and Cotswold-style houses and mansions, with stained glass windows and slate roofs, are situated on many of the area's tree-lined streets. They dominated districts like West Mount Airy's Pelham section (a Wendell and Smith development from 1890s), East Mount Airy's Gowen Avenue (the James Gowen Estate development from 1880s), Sedgwick Farms (an Ashton S. Tourison development from 1905), and Stenton (a Frank Mauran development from 1905) areas.

Demographics

As of the 2010 Census, Mount Airy has 27,035 residents, 11,934 households, and 6,636 families. 62.5% of residents are Black or African-American, 31.7% White/Caucasian, and 5.8% are from other races or from 2 or more races.

There are 11,934 households out of which 22.9% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 33.1% are married couples living together, 18.3% have a female householder with no husband present, and 44.4% are non-families. 37.3% of all households are made up of individuals and 27.7% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.21 and the average family size is 2.92.

20.1% of Mount Airy’s residents are under the age of 18, and 16.9% are 65 years and over. The median age is 42.7 years. 56.5% of residents are female. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 72.8 males.

As of 1999, the median household income was $46,520, the median family income was $58,297 and the per capita income was $28,287. 2010 Census Economics Characteristics data for zip code 19119 has not yet been released.

Racial integration

The area is recognized by many civil rights

Civil rights

Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...

groups as one of the first successfully integrated

Racial integration

Racial integration, or simply integration includes desegregation . In addition to desegregation, integration includes goals such as leveling barriers to association, creating equal opportunity regardless of race, and the development of a culture that draws on diverse traditions, rather than merely...

neighborhoods in America

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. Mount Airy residents organized to resist blockbusting

Blockbusting

Blockbusting is a business practice of U.S. real estate agents and building developers meant to encourage white property owners to sell their houses at a loss, by implying that racial, ethnic, or religious minorities — Blacks, Hispanics, Jews et al. — were moving into their previously racially...

, panic selling, and redlining

Redlining

Redlining is the practice of denying, or increasing the cost of services such as banking, insurance, access to jobs, access to health care, or even supermarkets to residents in certain, often racially determined, areas. The term "redlining" was coined in the late 1960s by John McKnight, a...

, especially during the period from the late 1950s to the early 1970s when those practices were prevalent. It continues to be a well-blended neighborhood and was recently cited in Oprah Winfrey's

Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Winfrey is an American media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer and philanthropist. Winfrey is best known for her self-titled, multi-award-winning talk show, which has become the highest-rated program of its kind in history and was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2011...

O magazine

O, The Oprah Magazine

O: The Oprah Magazine, sometimes simply abbreviated to O, is a monthly magazine founded by Oprah Winfrey and Hearst Corporation.-Overview:...

for its racial diversity and neighborhood appeal. The community has also been recognized by US News & World Report for racial harmony and balance.

Other demographic facets

Mount Airy has a significant number of lesbian households. It has been called a "Ph.D. ghetto" because many residents have advanced degrees. The political tone of the neighborhood is predominantly liberal. Mount Airy is favored as a neighborhood of choice for city politicians, judges, and others who are required to reside within the city's limits. One prominent Mount Airy politician is former Republican mayoral candidate Sam Katz

Sam Katz (Philadelphia)

Sam Katz is an American politician from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is most notable for his three unsuccessful campaigns as a member of the Republican Party for Mayor of Philadelphia...

.

There is a large Jewish community in Mount Airy, with significant institutional presence including three congregations and three national offices of Jewish organizations. The congregations are: Germantown Jewish Centre, P'nai Or Jewish Renewal Congregation of Philadelphia, and Chabad

Chabad

Chabad or Chabad-Lubavitch is a major branch of Hasidic Judaism.Chabad may also refer to:*Chabad-Strashelye, a defunct branch of the Chabad school of Hasidic Judaism*Chabad-Kapust or Kapust, a defunct branch of the Chabad school of Hasidic Judaism...

-Lubovitch of Northwest Philadelphia. The three national organizations are: Aleph, Alliance for Jewish Renewal, the National Havurah Committee, and The Shalom Center. Though these congregations and institutions show the vitality of Mt. Airy's continued Jewish presence, the number of congregations and people were far higher in the early 1960s when the center of the Jewish population in the area was East Mt. Airy.

Mount Airy has long been a neighborhood of choice for many of the city's prosperous African Americans.

A Hare Krishna

International Society for Krishna Consciousness

The International Society for Krishna Consciousness , known colloquially as the Hare Krishna movement, is a Gaudiya Vaishnava religious organization. It was founded in 1966 in New York City by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada...

community is located on West Allens Lane.

West Mount Airy has a reputation for being affluent, similar to Chestnut Hill, and the East more working class, although counter-examples abound. In general, the affluence of the neighborhood increases with proximity to Fairmount Park

Fairmount Park

and Chestnut Hill.

Public schools

The School District of Philadelphia

School District of Philadelphia

The School District of Philadelphia is a school district based in the School District of Philadelphia Education Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that includes all public schools in the city of Philadelphia. Established in 1818, it is the eighth largest school district in the nation.The School...

operates area public schools. Zoned K-5 schools serving sections of Mt. Airy include the Eleanor C. Emlen School. Zoned K-8 schools serving sections of Mt. Airy include Charles W. Henry School, Henry H. Houston School, and the Anna L. Lingelbach School. Residents assigned to Henry, Houston, and/or Lingelbach are also zoned to Germantown High School

Germantown High School (Philadelphia)

Germantown High School is a secondary school located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.GHS, located in Germantown, is a part of the School District of Philadelphia....

. Other nearby schools include Academy for the Middle Years, Parkway High School, and Martin Luther King High School

Martin Luther King High School (Philadelphia)

Martin Luther King High School is a neighborhood public high school located in the Germantown section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at the intersection of Stenton Avenue and Haines Street. It is a neighborhood school, meaning no application is necessary for those students that live in the Oak Lane,...

.

West Oak Lane Charter School and Wissahickon Charter School are two Mt. Airy area K-8 charter schools. Charter schools in nearby Germantown include Imani Education Circle Charter School (K-8), Germantown Settlement Charter School (5-8), Renaissance Charter School (6-8), and Delaware Valley Charter High School (9-12).

Private schools

Private schools in Mount Airy include the Green Tree School (ages 6–21), Blair Christian Academy (PreK-12), Revival Hill Christian High School (9-12), Islamic Day School of Philadelphia (PreK-5), Waldorf School of Philadelphia (PreK-8), Project Learn School (K-8), Classroom on Carpenter Lane (K-2), and Holy Cross School (K-8), a parochial school. Private schools in nearby Germantown

Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Germantown is a neighborhood in the northwest section of the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, about 7–8 miles northwest from the center of the city...

include Germantown Friends School

Germantown Friends School

Germantown Friends School is a coeducational K-12 school in the Germantown neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the United States under the supervision of Germantown Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends . It is governed by a School Committee whose members are drawn mainly...

(K-12), William Penn Charter School

William Penn Charter School

William Penn Charter School is an independent school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, founded in 1689 by William Penn...

(K-12), Ivy Leaf School (PreK-4), Greene Street Friends (K-8), Pennsylvania School for the Deaf

Pennsylvania School for the Deaf

The Pennsylvania School for the Deaf is the third-oldest school of its kind in the United States. Its founder, David G. Seixas , was a Philadelphia crockery maker-dealer who became concerned with the plight of impoverished deaf children that he observed on the city's streets...

(ages 3–17), and St. Barnabas Episcopal School (K-6). Chestnut Hill Academy

Chestnut Hill Academy

Chestnut Hill Academy, commonly referred to as CHA, is a Pre-K to 12 all-male independent college preparatory school located in northwest Philadelphia, Pennsylvania....

(K-12), Springside School

Springside School

Springside School is a private, all-girls school in the Chestnut Hill neighborhood, in the Northwest section of Philadelphia in the United States...

(PreK-12), and Crefeld School (7-12) are in nearby Chestnut Hill

Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Chestnut Hill is a neighborhood in the Northwest Philadelphia section of the United States city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.-Boundaries:Chestnut Hill is bounded as follows:...

. The Miquon School (K-6) is in Borough of Conshohocken

Conshohocken, Pennsylvania

Conshohocken is a borough on the Schuylkill River in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, in suburban Philadelphia. Historically a large mill town and industrial and manufacturing center, after the decline of industry in recent years Conshohocken has developed into a center of riverfront commercial and...

. St. Martin De Porres Interparocial (1-8) is in nearby Germantown.

Colleges and universities

Universities and colleges close to Mount Airy include Arcadia University

Arcadia University

Arcadia University is a private university located in Glenside, Pennsylvania, on the outskirts of Philadelphia. A master's university by Carnegie Classification, the university has a co-educational student population of more than 4,000. The university was ranked 25th in the master's universities in...

, Chestnut Hill College

Chestnut Hill College

Chestnut Hill College is a coeducational Roman Catholic college in the Chestnut Hill section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. It was founded in 1924 as a women's college by the Sisters of St. Joseph. It was originally called Mount Saint Joseph College and assumed its current name in 1938. In...

, La Salle University

La Salle University

La Salle University is a private, co-educational, Roman Catholic university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. Named for St. Jean-Baptiste de La Salle, the school was founded in 1863 by the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools. As of 2008 the school has approximately 7,554...

, The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia

Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia

The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia is one of eight seminaries associated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America , located in Philadelphia . It was founded in 1864 but traces its roots further back to the first Lutheran establishment in Philadelphia founded by Henry Melchior...

, Philadelphia University

Philadelphia University

Philadelphia University, founded in 1884, is a private university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Philadelphia University's student body consists of about 3,500 individuals from all 50 states and over 50 countries...

, and St. Joseph’s University.

Public libraries

Free Library of Philadelphia

The Free Library of Philadelphia is the public library system serving Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.-History:History of the Free Library of Philadelphia: Initiated by the efforts of Dr...

operates the Lovett Square Branch at 6945 Germantown Avenue.

Transportation

A commute to Center City is approximately a twenty minute drive without heavy traffic. The large suburban shopping and office districts around King of Prussia, Plymouth Meeting, and Conshohocken are also within about a fifteen to twenty-five minute drive of Mount Airy. Mount Airy is also served by public transportation. Two SEPTA Regional Rail lines connect the neighborhood to Center City

Center City, Philadelphia

Center City, or Downtown Philadelphia includes the central business district and central neighborhoods of the City of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. As of 2005, its population of over 88,000 made it the third most populous downtown in the United States, after New York City's and Chicago's...

. The Chestnut Hill West Line

Chestnut Hill West Line

The Chestnut Hill West Line , is a route of the SEPTA Regional Rail system. The route serves the northwestern section of Philadelphia with service to Germantown, Mount Airy, and Chestnut Hill...

runs through West Mount Airy with stops at Allen Lane, Carpenter and Upsal stations, and the Chestnut Hill East Line

Chestnut Hill East Line

The Chestnut Hill East Line , is a route of the SEPTA Regional Rail system. The route serves the northwestern section of Philadelphia with service to Germantown, Mount Airy, and Chestnut Hill...

through East Mount Airy with stops at Mount Airy, Sedgwick and Stenton stations—Washington Lane station is in Germantown across the street from Mount Airy. The neighborhood is also served by bus routes 18, 23 (formerly a trolley line), 53 (formerly a trolley line), H, and L.

Shopping

Mount Airy's main commercial district lies along cobblestoned Germantown Avenue, which also serves as the boundary between East and West Mount Airy. The neighborhood has a variety of independent shops, restaurants, art galleries, clothing stores, coffee shops, a gastropub, wine bar, and professional offices. In 2011, the New York Times described the influx of new businesses to Mount Airy as a "cultural revival" buoyed by "the neighborhood's reasonable housing costs and relatively safe streets." Its shopping district along "The Ave" gives it a small-town feel, although there are also a few chain stores such as an Acme Supermarket and a Wawa

Wawa Food Markets

Wawa Inc. is a chain of convenience store/gas stations located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It operates in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and Florida. The company's corporate headquarters is located in Chester Heights, Pennsylvania, near the community...

. Mount Airy is also home to Weavers Way Co-op

Weavers Way Co-op

Weavers Way Co-op is a member-owned consumer's cooperative in Philadelphia's West Mt. Airy section. Founded in 1973, Weavers Way Co-op was formed as a neighborhood buying club in a church basement. Since its incorporation, it has grown to 5,000 member households, with annual sales of more than $14...

, a long-running co-op grocery store, and two local, tented farmers' market

Farmers' market

A farmers' market consists of individual vendors—mostly farmers—who set up booths, tables or stands, outdoors or indoors, to sell produce, meat products, fruits and sometimes prepared foods and beverages...

s. It has two independent bookstore

Independent bookstore

An independent bookstore is a retail bookstore which is independently owned.-Literary and countercultural history:Author events at independent bookstores sometimes take the role of literary salons. The bookstores themselves, "have historically supported and cultivated the work of independent...

s: Big Blue Marble Bookstore, with new titles catering to neighbors' interests; and Walk a Crooked Mile Books, a large used-book store housed in the Mount Airy train station. West Mount Airy has a small commercial district of its own centered around Greene Street and Carpenter Lane, whereas East Mount Airy has more diffuse commercial districts along Stenton and Chew Avenues.

A number of commercial properties in Mount Airy have recently received economic development grants and façade rehabilitation assistance from Mount Airy USA, a neighborhood non-profit community economic development organization.

Notable residents

Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander
Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander
Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander, born Sarah Tanner Mossell , was the first African-American woman to receive a Ph.D...

, first African American woman Ph.D. from University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...

; Truman administration official
Mark Baltin
Mark Baltin
Mark Baltin is an American linguist and member of the faculty of New York University. Originally from the Mount Airy section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he attended Central High School...

, linguist, professor of Linguistics at New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
Eric Bazilian
Eric Bazilian
Eric M. Bazilian , is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, arranger and producer, best known for being a founding member of the rock band The Hooters.-Early life:...

, musician
Jesse Biddle
Jesse Biddle
Jesse Biddle is a starting pitcher in the Philadelphia Phillies organization. Biddle stands tall and weighs...

, baseball player
Sandra Boynton
Sandra Boynton
Sandra Keith Boynton is an American humorist, songwriter, children's author and illustrator. Boynton has written and illustrated more than forty books for both children and adults, as well as over four thousand greeting cards, and four music albums...

, cartoonist and children's book author
Dan Bricklin, inventor and entrepreneur
Charles Darrow
Charles Darrow
Charles Brace Darrow was born in Philadelphia; he is best known as the purported inventor of the Monopoly board game. Darrow was a domestic heater salesman from Germantown, a neighborhood in Philadelphia during the Great Depression. The house he lived in still stands at 40 Westview Street...

, a developer of the game Monopoly
Elizabeth Shippen Green
Elizabeth Shippen Green
Elizabeth Shippen Green was an American illustrator. She illustrated children's books and worked for many years for Harper's Magazine....

, artist and illustrator
A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr.,the first African American judge on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
Amy Ignatow
Amy Ignatow
Amy Ignatow is an American author, illustrator, and cartoonist who lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She is best known for the children's book series, The Popularity Papers.-Personal life:...

, author and illustrator of The Popularity Papers
The Popularity Papers
The Popularity Papers: Research for the Social Improvement and General Betterment of Lydia Goldblatt and Julie Graham-Chang is a children's book written and illustrated by Amy Ignatow and published in 2010. It is more commonly known simply as The Popularity Papers.To date, two sequels have been...

series
Khan Jamal, Jazz musician
Mat Johnson
Mat Johnson
Mat Johnson is an American writer of literary fiction.-Biography:Born and raised in the Germantown and Mount Airy, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Johnson writes primarily about the lives of African-Americans, using fiction, nonfiction and graphic novels as mediums...

, author and playwright
Connie Mack
Connie Mack (baseball)
Cornelius McGillicuddy, Sr. , better known as Connie Mack, was an American professional baseball player, manager, and team owner. The longest-serving manager in Major League Baseball history, he holds records for wins , losses , and games managed , with his victory total being almost 1,000 more...

, baseball manager and owner
John McWhorter
John McWhorter
John Hamilton McWhorter V is an American linguist and political commentator. He is the author of a number of books on language and on race relations. His linguistic specialty is creole and the process through which it forms.-Early life:...

, linguist and conservative intellectual
Violet Oakley
Violet Oakley
Violet Oakley was an American artist known for her murals and her work in stained glass. She was a student and later a faculty member at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.-Life:...

, artist
Saul Perlmutter
Saul Perlmutter
Saul Perlmutter is an American astrophysicist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and a professor of physics at the University of California, Berkeley. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, and was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of...

, Nobel Prize-winning astrophysicist
Kurt Rosenwinkel
Kurt Rosenwinkel
Kurt Rosenwinkel is an American jazz guitarist and keyboardist who came to prominence in the 1990s.-Biography:He attended the Berklee School of Music for two and a half years before leaving in his junior year to tour with Gary Burton, the dean of the school at the time...

, jazz guitarist
Zalman Schachter-Shalomi
Zalman Schachter-Shalomi
Rabbi Zalman M. Schachter-Shalomi and commonly called "Reb Zalman" is considered one of the major founders of the Jewish Renewal movement.-Early life:...

, Jewish religious leader
Brianna Taylor
Brianna Taylor
Brianna Taylor is a reality show personality, singer and songwriter, having appeared on both the fifth season of American Idol and The Real World: Hollywood, the twentieth season of MTV's long-running reality television series, The Real World...

, Reality TV Star from The Real World Hollywood
The Real World: Hollywood
The Real World: Hollywood is the twentieth season of MTV's reality television series The Real World, which focuses on a group of diverse strangers living together for several months in a different city each season, as cameras document their lives and interpersonal relationships. It premiered on...
Paul F. Tompkins
Paul F. Tompkins
Paul Francis Tompkins , best known as Paul F. Tompkins, is an American actor and comedian.-Life and career:Tompkins was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to a receptionist mother and railway worker father. He started out in stand-up comedy in 1986 at The Comedy Works, Philadelphia, PA, where he...

, Comedian, TV Host, and Podcaster
Dr. C. DeLores Tucker, civil rights activist; first black female Secretary of State of a U.S. state
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

in the nation; fought against music lyrics demeaning to African Americans and women
Robert Venturi
Robert Venturi
Robert Charles Venturi, Jr. is an American architect, founding principal of the firm Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates, and one of the major figures in the architecture of the twentieth century...

, architect
Grover Washington Jr. Jazz musician
Jessie Willcox Smith
Jessie Willcox Smith
Jessie Willcox Smith was a United States illustrator famous for her work in magazines such as Ladies Home Journal and for her illustrations for children's books....

, illustrator and artist

Notable institutions

The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia
Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia
The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia is one of eight seminaries associated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America , located in Philadelphia . It was founded in 1864 but traces its roots further back to the first Lutheran establishment in Philadelphia founded by Henry Melchior...

(LTSP) is located at Germantown Ave. and Allen's Lane. The seminary is associated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is a mainline Protestant denomination headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. The ELCA officially came into existence on January 1, 1988, by the merging of three churches. As of December 31, 2009, it had 4,543,037 baptized members, with 2,527,941 of them...

, the largest Lutheran denomination in the U.S., and also serves as its Region 7 headquarters.
The Sedgwick Theater
Sedgwick Theater
The Sedgwick Theater is a historic American theater built in the Mt. Airy neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.It was built in 1928 and designed by architect William Harold Lee. It is one of the remaining 20 Philadelphia theaters which he designed; nine have been demolished. Only two in...

, a 1920s Art Deco
Art Deco
Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...

movie theater, is one of the few remaining in Philadelphia.
Mount Airy is home to numerous properties listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places listings in Northwest Philadelphia
This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Northwest Philadelphia.This is intended to be a complete list of the properties and districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Northwest Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States...

as well as sharing the Colonial Germantown Historic District
Colonial Germantown Historic District
The Colonial Germantown Historic District is a designated National Historic Landmark District in the Germantown and Mount Airy neighborhoods of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania along both sides of Germantown Avenue...

with neighboring Germantown
Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Germantown is a neighborhood in the northwest section of the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, about 7–8 miles northwest from the center of the city...

.

External links

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