North Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

North Philadelphia, nickname

Nickname

A nickname is "a usually familiar or humorous but sometimes pointed or cruel name given to a person or place, as a supposedly appropriate replacement for or addition to the proper name.", or a name similar in origin and pronunciation from the original name....

d North Philly, is a section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...

, in the United States

United States

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

. It is immediately north of 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...

. Though the full extent of the region is somewhat vague, "North Philadelphia" is sometimes regarded, especially by people with little familiarity with Philadelphia neighborhoods, as everything north of either Vine Street or Spring Garden Street, between 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...

and Northeast Philadelphia

Northeast Philadelphia

Northeast Philadelphia, nicknamed Northeast Philly, the Northeast and the Great Northeast, is a section of the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. According to the 2000 Census, the Northeast has a sizable percentage of the city's 1.547 million people — a population of between 300,000 and 450,000,...

. The official boundary of North Philadelphia are Cheltenham Avenue to the north, Market Street to the south, 35th Street to the west, and Adams Avenue to the east. Though, some traditionally consider it to be north of Market Street. The Philadelphia Police Department

Philadelphia Police Department

The Philadelphia Police Department is the police agency responsible for law enforcement and investigations within the City of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania...

patrols six districts located within North Philadelphia. The six patrol districts serving North Philadelphia are the 22nd, 23rd, 25th, 26th, 35th, and 39th districts.
There are six zip codes for North Philadelphia, they are: 19132, 19133, 19121, 19122, 19130 and 19123. Several of the sections in North Philadelphia include: Brewerytown

Brewerytown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Brewerytown is a neighborhood in the North Philadelphia district of the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. An unofficial region, Brewerytown runs approximately between the Schuylkill River's eastern bank and 25th Street, bounded by Cecil B. Moore Avenue to the north and Parrish...

, Fairhill

Fairhill, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Fairhill is a neighborhood on the east side of the North Philadelphia section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Fairhill is located in an area between Kensington Avenue and 6th Street ranging from York Street to Gurney Street/Clearfield Street...

, Fairmount

Fairmount, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Fairmount is a United States neighborhood in the North Philadelphia area of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The name "Fairmount" itself derives from the prominent hill on which the Philadelphia Museum of Art now sits, and where William Penn originally intended to build his own manor house...

, Fishtown

Fishtown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Fishtown is a neighborhood in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Located immediately northeast of Center City, its borders are somewhat disputed today due to many factors, but are roughly defined by the triangle created by the Delaware River, Frankford Avenue, and York Street...

, Francisville

Francisville, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Francisville is a neighborhood in North Philadelphia, which is a section of the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its boundaries are Fairmount Avenue to the south, Girard Avenue to the north, Broad Street to the east, and Corinthian Avenue to the west. In 2000, it had a population of about 4,500...

, Franklinville

Franklinville, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Franklinville is a neighborhood of North Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. According to the City Planning Commission, the boundaries of Franklinville are roughly a triangle bounded by West Sedgley Avenue, North Broad Street, and West Hunting Park Avenue....

, Glenwood

Glenwood, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Glenwood is a neighborhood in North Philadelphia. It is located in the vicinity of North Philadelphia Station to West York Street.In 1988 two residents of the 3100 block of Percy Street, Reverend Clarence Hester, a Baptist minister and activist, and Carrie Hartsfield, an insurance worker who...

, Hartranft

Hartranft, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Hartranft is a neighborhood in the central part of North Philadelphia section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.Hartranft is on the border of the predominantly Black central region of North Philadelphia and the predominantly Hispanic eastern region of North Philadelphia. Bounded by 10th...

, Northern Liberties

Northern Liberties, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

-Boundaries:Northern Liberties is located north of Center City and is bordered by Girard Avenue to the north; Callowhill Street to the south; North 6th Street to the west; and the Delaware River to the east...

, Poplar

Poplar, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Poplar is a neighborhood in North Philadelphia. It is located north of Chinatown, between Spring Garden and Northern Liberties, bound roughly by Girard Avenue to the north, North Broad Street to the West, Spring Garden Street to the south, and 5th Street to the east...

, Sharswood

Sharswood, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Sharswood is a small neighborhood in the North Philadelphia section of the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is located to the east of Brewerytown, north of Girard College, west of Ridge Avenue, and south of the Norman Blumberg apartment towers...

, Strawberry Mansion

Strawberry Mansion, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Strawberry Mansion is a neighborhood in the United States city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, located east of Fairmount Park in North Philadelphia. It has a large and predominantly African-American population. The neighborhood is bounded by 33rd Street in the west, 29th Street in the east, Lehigh...

, Yorktown

Yorktown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Yorktown is a neighborhood in North Philadelphia. It is located north of Poplar and west of Ludlow....

.

The city government views this sprawling chunk of Philadelphia more precisely as three smaller districts, drawn up by the Redevelopment Authority in 1964. These regions are (from north to south) East

East Oak Lane, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

East Oak Lane is a neighborhood in the upper Northern section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Many of the houses in the neighborhood are large single homes or twins built at a later period than much of central North Philadelphia...

& 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...

/Olney

Olney, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Olney is a neighborhood in the North Philadelphia section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It is roughly bounded by the Roosevelt Boulevard to the south, Tacony Creek to the east, Godfrey Avenue to the north, and the railroad right-of-way west of Sixth Street to the west.Although...

, Upper North Philadelphia, and Lower North Philadelphia. The Oak Lane neighborhoods and Olney are sometimes considered to be separate from North Philadelphia entirely because of their unique architecture, culture and differing patterns of development.

In past decades, North Philadelphia was hit hard by economic decline. The majority of North Philadelphia's residents are African American

African American

African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...

s and Hispanic Americans. Despite its wealth of history, schools, cultural sites, parkland, architecture, and other holdovers from more prosperous times, unfettered poverty

Poverty

Poverty is the lack of a certain amount of material possessions or money. Absolute poverty or destitution is inability to afford basic human needs, which commonly includes clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter. About 1.7 billion people are estimated to live...

has earned North Philadelphia a reputation as a slum

Slum

A slum, as defined by United Nations agency UN-HABITAT, is a run-down area of a city characterized by substandard housing and squalor and lacking in tenure security. According to the United Nations, the percentage of urban dwellers living in slums decreased from 47 percent to 37 percent in the...

. At the same time, some would counter that it is far more diverse an area, and thus too large to stereotype. From the Puerto Rican communities in Hunting Park

Hunting Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Hunting Park is a neighborhood in the North Philadelphia section of the United States city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Like many North Philadelphia neighborhoods, it grew mainly in the 1920s and 1940s. The neighborhood's namesake is large park which is a regular location for recreation for many...

, West Kensington

West Kensington, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

West Kensington is a neighborhood in the North Philadelphia section of Philadelphia. It is north of Olde Kensington. The Market Frankford El above Front Street forms the line between West Kensington and its bordering neighborhoods to the east , although its other boundaries are less well-defined...

, and Fairhill

Fairhill, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

to the middle class

Middle class

The middle class is any class of people in the middle of a societal hierarchy. In Weberian socio-economic terms, the middle class is the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socio-economically between the working class and upper class....

African American neighborhoods around the Oak Lanes

West Oak Lane, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

to the poor

Poor

Poor is an adjective related to a state of poverty, low quality or pity.People with the surname Poor:* Charles Henry Poor, a US Navy officer* Charles Lane Poor, an astronomer* Edward Erie Poor, a vice president of the National Park Bank...

ghettos that typify much of its core to newly-gentrifying

Gentrification

Gentrification and urban gentrification refer to the changes that result when wealthier people acquire or rent property in low income and working class communities. Urban gentrification is associated with movement. Consequent to gentrification, the average income increases and average family size...

Brewerytown

Brewerytown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

, a large portion of Philadelphians call this section home.

Early history

Prior to its incorporation into the city proper, North Philadelphia was little more than a collection of primarily agricultural townships above the original City of Philadelphia. In the 18th century, as Philadelphia grew in importance and, consequently, population, then pastoral North Philadelphia became an attractive alternative to the burgeoning city. The mansions of wealthy Philadelphians began to dot

Dot product

In mathematics, the dot product or scalar product is an algebraic operation that takes two equal-length sequences of numbers and returns a single number obtained by multiplying corresponding entries and then summing those products...

the landscape, and by the late 18th and early 19th century, several small town centers had developed to anchor the growing population. However, this suburban landscape was to be interrupted around the middle of the 19th century, as rapid urban expansion led to The Consolidation Act of 1854

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...

. This state law annexed all of the townships within Philadelphia County to the City of Philadelphia. With new territory now under the aegis of Philadelphia's city planners, and a rising influx of European immigrants, led to the end of North as a suburb of Philadelphia. North Philadelphia's decentralized towns were gradually meshed into a sprawling network of the ubiquitous Philadelphia rowhome. Many of the newly created neighborhoods retained the name of their ancestral towns and townships, for example, Northern Liberties was formerly Northern Liberties Township.

Industrial era

Philadelphia was one of the more important centers of manufacturing in the world between the mid-19th and mid-20th centuries, and North Philadelphia is one of the sections of the city whose landscape was most deeply shaped by the industrial era. Its landscape still strongly reflects this heritage.

As the industrial age

Industrial Age

Industrial Age may refer to:*Industrialisation*The Industrial Revolution...

peaked in America, North Philadelphia became a working man's town. Upper North Philadelphia, Olney, Brewerytown, became major hubs of production. Large factories and industrial complexes were erected, covering vast swaths of city land. Thousands of rowhomes were constructed to house the burgeoning worker population. This expansion was also the impetus for breaking ground on the Broad Street Line

Broad Street Line

The Broad Street Line is a rapid transit line operated by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority that runs from Fern Rock Transportation Center in North Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Pattison Avenue in South Philadelphia...

subway; designed specifically to carry a passenger from the northern hub of Olney

Olney, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

to Philadelphia City Hall

Philadelphia City Hall

Philadelphia City Hall is the house of government for the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At , including the statue, it is the world's second-tallest masonry building, only shorter than Mole Antonelliana in Turin...

in under 20 minutes. Major freight and passenger rail lines were built to intersect at the newly constructed North Broad Street Station, and transmit cargo from the bustling factories. The completion of the BSL these major railways made the region a thriving hub of transportation. For a time, North Philadelphia station became the second most heavily trafficked rail station in the city, and the Olney Ave station the most used subway stop.

Along with many of Philadelphia's major manufacturing concerns came the nearby estates of the wealthy industrialists who had founded them. Lower North Philadelphia in particular housed a number the nouveau riche
Nouveau riche
The nouveau riche , or new money, comprise those who have acquired considerable wealth within their own generation...

; ambitious first or second generation immigrants or that had made their fortunes starting manufacturing firms. Many were German Jews that had settled in the area, later founding companies and building synagogues. For a time, an age of opulence and grand architecture returned to North Philadelphia, centered around what is now zoned as the Historic North Broad Street Mansion and Speculative Housing Districts. Gentlemen's Clubs, upscale restaurants and shopping districts grew in this southern tier for a brief moment in history, peaking in the late 1920s. Upper-class foremen and executives lived farther north along Broad Street

Broad Street (Philadelphia)

Broad Street is a major arterial street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and is nearly 13 miles long.It is Pennsylvania Route 611 along its entire length with the exception of its northernmost part between Old York Road and Pennsylvania Route 309 and the southernmost part south of Interstate 95...

, in what is now the West Diamond Street Townhouse Historic District. Thriving commercial districts sprung up along the great northern avenues; Columbia (renamed Cecil B. Moore Avenue), Susquehanna, Dauphin, Erie, Lehigh and Olney, to name a few. However, just as this wealth was so suddenly gained, it would just as suddenly be lost. The new money culture proved to be an unstable foundation for a lasting community, and like so many constructs of the Gilded Age

Gilded Age

In United States history, the Gilded Age refers to the era of rapid economic and population growth in the United States during the post–Civil War and post-Reconstruction eras of the late 19th century. The term "Gilded Age" was coined by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner in their book The Gilded...

, this core of wealth was doomed to rot.

Post-industrial economic decline

Over the next few decades The Great Depression, outsourcing

Outsourcing

Outsourcing is the process of contracting a business function to someone else.-Overview:The term outsourcing is used inconsistently but usually involves the contracting out of a business function - commonly one previously performed in-house - to an external provider...

, and white flight

White flight

White flight has been a term that originated in the United States, starting in the mid-20th century, and applied to the large-scale migration of whites of various European ancestries from racially mixed urban regions to more racially homogeneous suburban or exurban regions. It was first seen as...

took their toll on North Philadelphia in a fashion similar to other major US cities of the mid to late 20th century, if not in a more pronounced fashion. While residential corridors like Hope Street and Delhi Street had long housed primarily African-American residents, white residents moved out of the city as waves of poor blacks moved in. During the 40s and 50s, much of the area was racially 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...

, although smaller streets were usually completely black or white. Whites began to move out slowly at first in the late 1940s as these residents became more affluent and Northeast Philadelphia

Northeast Philadelphia

began to develop new housing with lawns and conveniences such as modern plumbing. In most cases African Americans moved into the vacant houses and as this began to increase, true white flight began. Increasingly, people moved out of North Philadelphia not solely to move into newer homes, but to avoid facing decreasing property values. For a time, Lower North Philadelphia became a great center of black culture and music, most notably Jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

. Many commercial corridors were maintained for decades, and a great many musicians came to North Philadelphia, like John Coltrane

John Coltrane

John William Coltrane was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Working in the bebop and hard bop idioms early in his career, Coltrane helped pioneer the use of modes in jazz and later was at the forefront of free jazz...

and Stan Getz

Stan Getz

Stanley Getz was an American jazz saxophone player. Getz was known as "The Sound" because of his warm, lyrical tone, his prime influence being the wispy, mellow timbre of his idol, Lester Young. Coming to prominence in the late 1940s with Woody Herman's big band, Getz is described by critic Scott...

. By 1964, North Philadelphia was the city's center of African American

African American

culture home to 400,000 of the city's 600,000 Black Residents.

As the century marched past middle age, many other problems symptomatic of all US cities of the time came about. Many of the neighborhoods in North Philadelphia sprung up around one monolithic factory, which was the center of the community's income. Each factory that closed down devastated its host neighborhood. In this way, the wave of national industrial collapse caused the rapid break up of numerous "factory neighborhoods" in the predominantly working class North Philadelphia.

1964 Columbia Avenue Riot

Philadelphia 1964 race riot

The Philadelphia race riot took place in the predominantly black neighborhoods of North Philadelphia from August 28 to August 30, 1964. Tensions between black residents of the city and police had been escalating for several months over several well-publicized allegations of police brutality.This...

On the evening of August 28, 1964 a black woman named Odessa Bradford got into an argument with two police officers, one black, Robert Wells, and the other white, John Hoff, after her car stalled at 23rd Street and Columbia Avenue. After Bradford refused to comply with the two officers' orders to move the car, because the car had stalled, and she was unable to drive it, an argument ensued. The officers then tried to physically remove Bradford from the car. She resisted and a large crowd assembled in the area. A man tried to come to Bradford's aid by attacking the police officers at the scene, but he and Bradford were arrested. Rumors then spread throughout North Philadelphia that a pregnant black woman had been beaten to death by white police officers. Later that evening, and throughout the next two days, angry mobs looted

Looting

Looting —also referred to as sacking, plundering, despoiling, despoliation, and pillaging—is the indiscriminate taking of goods by force as part of a military or political victory, or during a catastrophe, such as during war, natural disaster, or rioting...

and burned mostly white-owned businesses in North Philadelphia, mainly along Columbia Avenue. Outnumbered, the police response was to withdraw from the area rather than aggressively confront the rioters. The race riots

Philadelphia 1964 race riot

of 1964 became iconic for the rising ethnic tensions in the region, and the continued withdrawal of white residents. The riot, which virtually destroyed the central shopping district of North Philadelphia, signaling the beginning of the end for the North's commercial sector. The withering of the American manufacturing sector led to the closing of many of the factories that many northern neighborhoods were centered around and depended on. Increased urban blight and the general decline of Philadelphia in the late 20th century even saw the decline of even many of the strong black communities in North Philadelphia. The legendary Connie Mack Stadium

Connie Mack Stadium

Shibe Park, known later as Connie Mack Stadium, was a major league baseball park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. When it opened April 12, 1909, it became baseball's first steel-and-concrete stadium. In different eras it was home to "The $100,000 Infield", "The Whiz Kids" and "The 1964 Phold"...

was closed in favor of the new Pattison Sports Complex. North Philadelphia Station lost Amtrak

Amtrak

The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak , is a government-owned corporation that was organized on May 1, 1971, to provide intercity passenger train service in the United States. "Amtrak" is a portmanteau of the words "America" and "track". It is headquartered at Union...

Service, and the BSL subway line

Broad Street Line

garnered a reputation for violent crime and rape. The great 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...

office buildings and government institutions were mostly abandoned, as were the mansions of the many ruined industrialists.

North Philadelphia today

Blight and Brownfields

Today, many remnants of these more prosperous eras remain, albeit in a typically more dilapidated state. However, for as many that remain, just as many thousands of historic buildings have collapsed, either from neglect or demolition, and thousands more still lie abandoned. A handful have become protected historic properties. Several blocks, with numerous old mansions, have been re-zoned as the aforementioned historic districts. A great many extravagant churches were built over the years, as well. Some still stand, but all too often money is scarce to preserve their deteriorating architecture. The stately trolley

Tram

A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...

lines which once criss-crossed the northern streets and connected the region with the rest of Philadelphia were shut down by SEPTA in 1992. Immense, abandoned factories sit idle; warehouses lie empty; and disused heavy rail lines scar the landscape. The names of the old industrialists, such as Gratz, Poth, Uber, Bouvier, and Schmidt, still adorn many buildings and street signs in the area but are otherwise foreign to many modern-day residents.

The Neighborhood Transformation Initiative, or NTI, was a City program launched by Mayor John F. Street

John F. Street

John Franklin Street was the 97th Mayor of the City of Philadelphia. He was first elected to a term beginning on January 3, 2000, and was re-elected to a second term beginning in 2004...

during his first administration. The program called for the demolition of thousands of condemned buildings and the construction of large-scale, medium-density public housing, with restoration efforts to be employed on salvageable houses. Many blocks of old rowhomes have been bulldozed and replaced with suburban style tract houses. This program has radically changed some sections of North Philadelphia. Some charge that little effort was made to save a number of historic buildings, others that NTI was needed to change blighted neighborhoods. The lasting effects of the program remain to be seen.

Redevelopment and gentrification

Some areas, like Olney, Allegheny, and Erie, still have relatively active communities, but even they are often troubled by drugs, crime, and/or social underfunding. Allegheny West has advanced, mostly from the support of some of the last industries in North Philadelphia, Tastykake

Tastykake

Tastykake is the brandname for a line of snack foods manufactured by the Tasty Baking Company, currently headquartered at the Philadelphia Naval Business Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Established in 1914 by Philip J. Baur and Herbert T...

and Pep Boys

Pep Boys

The Pep Boys — Manny, Moe & Jack , branded as Pep Boys Auto and commonly abbreviated as Pep Boys, is a full-service and tire automotive aftermarket chain....

, which are headquartered in the neighborhood.

Several parts of North Philadelphia, especially those that border the Center City district, have recently been experiencing varying levels of gentrification

Gentrification

. Once economically divested neighborhoods like Brewerytown

Brewerytown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

, Francisville

Francisville, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

, Northern Liberties

Northern Liberties, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

, Poplar

Poplar, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

, and West Kensington

West Kensington, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

have seen large scale development break ground. Other regions have seen virtually no change, save the rising housing values that have accompanied increased attention in urban markets. Many residents of communities in North Philadelphia have voiced resistance towards these gentrifying forces, viewing the sudden investment as an invasion that threatens the traditional character of the neighborhoods. Some poor and elderly residents have been pushed out of increasingly valued neighborhoods adjacent to the dynamic Center City housing market, as speculative buyers push outward from the city core. Many fear this process will be repeated in North Philadelphia. Many buildings are abandoned.

Demographics

According to the 2010 census, 324,756 people live among the ZIP codes of 19132, 19133, 19121, 19122, 19130 and 19123. (Map)

Racial demographics

Non-Hispanic Black: 158,081 (49.5%)
Hispanic or Latino of any race: 104,487 (32.3%)
Non-Hispanic White: 28,907 (8.6%)
Asian & Pacific Islander: 14,975 (4.9%)
Mixed or Other: 14,498 (4.2%)
Native American: 1,307 (0.4%)

A noticeable pattern in the area is that, in the southern part of North Philadelphia (south of about Erie Avenue), Germantown Avenue (which later becomes North 6th Street) is the dividing point between the areas that are predominantly Black (to the west), and the areas that are predominantly Hispanic (to the east). See http://projects.nytimes.com/census/2010/map

Crime

In a 2007 Philadelphia Weekly
Philadelphia Weekly
Philadelphia Weekly , is an award-winning alternative newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, published every Wednesday.The paper was founded in 1971 as a sister publication to the South Philadelphia Press. In 1995, the paper became Philadelphia Weekly...

article journalist Steve Volk states that anti-drug activists said that North Philadelphia has a lot of open air recreational drug dealing because the act is a tradition and because many areas have consistent poverty.

Transportation

Notably, Broad Street

Broad Street (Philadelphia)

roughly bisects North Philadelphia north-south. Broad Street is a six-lane arterial street that is designated as Pennsylvania Route 611

Pennsylvania Route 611

Pennsylvania Route 611 is a major state highway in Pennsylvania, United States, running from Interstate 95 south of downtown Philadelphia north to Interstate 380 in Coolbaugh Township, Pennsylvania in The Poconos....

. The Broad Street Line

Broad Street Line

, or 'Orange Line,' runs along Broad Street, directly connecting North Philadelphia with Center City and South Philadelphia, as well as with the rest of Philadelphia's public transit system: SEPTA.

Education

Public education

Public schooling in North Philadelphia is handled by 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...

.
The region is divided into several "clusters," which administer individual schools. By region, these clusters are:

Lower North Philadelphia

William Penn
Strawberry Mansion
Murrell Dobbins C.T.E.
A. Philip Randolph C.T.E.
Franklin
Masterman
Carroll

Upper North Philadelphia

Gratz
Edison

Olney/Oak Lane

King
Olney
Central
Philadelphia High School for Girls (Girls High)

YouthBuild

YouthBuild is a non-profit organization which provides education, counseling and job skills to unemployed young American adults , generally high school dropouts...

Philadelphia Charter School, which is chartered by the School District of Philadelphia

School District of Philadelphia

, is also located in North Philadelphia, just south of William Penn High School.

Post-secondary education

North Philadelphia also boasts a number of institutions of higher learning.

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...
Messiah College
Messiah College
Messiah College is a private Christian college of the liberal arts and applied arts and sciences located in Grantham, Pennsylvania, near the capital city of Harrisburg...

-Philadelphia Campus
Temple University
Temple University
Temple University is a comprehensive public research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Originally founded in 1884 by Dr. Russell Conwell, Temple University is among the nation's largest providers of professional education and prepares the largest body of professional...
Harcum College at Congreso

Other

Libraries

There are thirteen branch libraries of the Philadelphia Free Library

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...

located in North Philadelphia.

Museums/Cultural Sites

Philadelphia Doll Museum
Wagner Free Institute of Science
Wagner Free Institute of Science
The Wagner Free Institute of Science is a natural history museum located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1855 by William Wagner, a notable merchant, philanthropist, and gentleman scientist of the time, who sought to offer free educational courses to all who would seek to learn...
The Blue Horizon
The Blue Horizon
The Blue Horizon is a historic 1,500-seat boxing venue in the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Ring magazine voted it the number-one boxing venue in the world, and Sports Illustrated noted it as the last great boxing venue in the country....
The Village of Arts and Humanities
The Village of Arts and Humanities
The Village of Arts and Humanities is an arts organization in North Philadelphia. The Village was founded by Lily Yeh, an artist and Chinese immigrant who was a tenured professor at the Philadelphia School of Fine Arts. It has renovated dozens of urban lots and empty buildings with murals, mosaics,...

External links

North Philadelphia Official Website

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