Port Richmond, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Port Richmond, also referred to as simply Richmond, 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...

in the Northeast 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,...

. It is notable for its extremely large Polish immigrant and Polish American

Polish American

A Polish American , is a citizen of the United States of Polish descent. There are an estimated 10 million Polish Americans, representing about 3.2% of the population of the United States...

community. The neighborhood is also home to sizable Irish, German and Italian communities as represented in the various churches and organizations. In more recent years, a sizable Albanian community has moved in. The Richmond Zip Code is 19134.

The neighborhood is bounded by the Frankford Creek. on the north, Lehigh Ave. on the south, I-95 and the Delaware River

Delaware River

The Delaware River is a major river on the Atlantic coast of the United States.A Dutch expedition led by Henry Hudson in 1609 first mapped the river. The river was christened the South River in the New Netherland colony that followed, in contrast to the North River, as the Hudson River was then...

to the east, and the railroad along Trenton Avenue/Martha Street to the west. While some people dispute the western boundary of the neighborhood, stating either Aramingo Avenue or Front Street, general consensus among residents on either side of the railroad is that those east of it claim Port Richmond and those west of it claim Kensington

Kensington, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Kensington is a neighborhood in the United States city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is between the Lower Northeast section of Philadelphia and North Philadelphia. Not to be confused with the former Kensington District, now commonly referred to as Fishtown, the area modernly referred to as...

.

While some have referred to Port Richmond as Richmond, there is an area named Richmond, not colloquially used often, that refers to the most northeast section of the neighborhood. Adjacent neighborhoods are Bridesburg

Bridesburg, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Bridesburg is the last river-front neighborhood before the Northeast section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States begins. Bridesburg has a significant Polish community and continues to be a destination from incoming immigrants from Poland to live...

and Frankford

Frankford, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Frankford is a large and important neighborhood in the lower Northeast section of Philadelphia situated about six miles northeast of Center City. Although its borders are vaguely defined, the neighborhood is bounded roughly by the original course of Frankford Creek, now roughly Adams to Aramingo...

to the northeast, Juniata

Juniata, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Juniata is a neighborhood in Northeast Philadelphia, which is a section of the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; however, it is sometimes said to be in North Philadelphia because it lies west of Frankford Creek. Juniata is located south of the Juniata Golf Club in Tacony Creek Park...

to the north, Kensington

Kensington, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

to the west, and 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...

to the south.

Google streetmap

Port Richmond

Colonial era heritage

In colonial times, most of today's Port Richmond was owned by Anthony Palmer, the founder of Philadelphia's Kensington neighborhood. Palmer put together various parcels of land starting around 1704. He named the estate he built "Hope Farm," and in 1729 sold this estate to William Ball. Palmer then purchased the old Fairman Mansion estate which bordered on the south of "Hope Farm" and built his town of Kensington. Over time some manufacturing began at the southern end of "Hope Farm" and this area became known as Balltown. There were glass and textile concerns located there during the later part of the 18th century.

A major coal terminal

During the 1800s, with the advent of the steam engine aboard ships, Port Richmond was a major terminus for colliers

Collier (ship type)

Collier is a historical term used to describe a bulk cargo ship designed to carry coal, especially for naval use by coal-fired warships. In the late 18th century a number of wooden-hulled sailing colliers gained fame after being adapted for use in voyages of exploration in the South Pacific, for...

who received coal from the Reading Railroad facility at the port, and transported it to steam ships at other locations.

Colliers, as well as other merchant and military ships, continued to visit Port Richmond for coal until after World War I when coal-burning steam engines on ships were replaced by more modern oil and diesel engine

Diesel engine

A diesel engine is an internal combustion engine that uses the heat of compression to initiate ignition to burn the fuel, which is injected into the combustion chamber...

Early 20th century heritage

Port Richmond, at the beginning of the century, was a working-class neighborhood, and most workers simply walked to their nearby workplaces with lunch pail in hand. Cars were not common and those who had them stored them in stable

Stable

A stable is a building in which livestock, especially horses, are kept. It most commonly means a building that is divided into separate stalls for individual animals...

s. Stables for horses and cars were located in various parts of the area. Streets – unlike now -—were generally free of parked vehicles, allowing huckster

Huckster

A huckster is a seller of small articles, who tricks others into buying cheap imitation products and then bargains them as if they were the real thing...

s and other vendors space to easily proceed down the narrow side streets with their horse and wagon on a daily basis.

European immigrants arrived in large numbers and lost no time in scrimping and working long hours to earn sufficient money to purchase modest row homes, such as those along Chatham Street.

Usually, the only heat in such homes was provided by a coal-fired range

Stove

A stove is an enclosed heated space. The term is commonly taken to mean an enclosed space in which fuel is burned to provide heating, either to heat the space in which the stove is situated or to heat the stove itself, and items placed on it...

in a tiny kitchen. Some comfort could be had in the fact that these homes contained tiny rooms, generally two downstairs and two upstairs, and were easy to keep warm from the heat of the kitchen range.

Such homes were generally twelve feet wide, and the entire length of the house was about twenty four feet. Cellars consisted of plain dirt floors. The fact that the homes were row homes, which were joined together by common walls, helped them retain heat during cold winter spells. Only the fronts and backs of each home presented themselves to the coldness of winter.

Why the cellars along Chatham Street, for example, contained dirt floors is not entirely clear, unless it was because the cellars were used simply for wood or coal storage or because of the fact that cement was not a widely used product at the time.

A ton of coal

Coal

Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...

sold at the time for about four or five dollars a ton and would be sufficient for the entire winter. However, most people bought coal by the bucket

Bucket

A bucket, also called a pail, is typically a watertight, vertical cylinder or truncated cone, with an open top and a flat bottom, usually attached to a semicircular carrying handle called the bail. A pail can have an open top or can have a lid....

from a street peddler

Peddler

A peddler, in British English pedlar, also known as a canvasser, cheapjack, monger, or solicitor , is a travelling vendor of goods. In England, the term was mostly used for travellers hawking goods in the countryside to small towns and villages; they might also be called tinkers or gypsies...

who came by daily in his horse-drawn carriage.

The outside of these humble homes looked respectable with their wooden steps and brick sidewalks. Since this type of housing was of economic construction, the bricks in the sidewalk were laid in a crosshatch pattern in sand. When bricks were used in construction of the walls of the house, the mortar mix was made from lime

Lime (mineral)

Lime is a general term for calcium-containing inorganic materials, in which carbonates, oxides and hydroxides predominate. Strictly speaking, lime is calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide. It is also the name for a single mineral of the CaO composition, occurring very rarely...

and sand.

Chatham Street homes were constructed in the late 19th century. Later, row homes in Port Richmond were generally sixteen feet wide and contained a cemented cellar, a coal-fired heater, and an upstairs bath for a total of for a total of five or six rooms.

Such newer homes, like those on Almond Street, for example, increased in size as prosperity improved for the residents. These homes were palatial when compared with Chatham Street homes, and contained a coal-fired furnace that provided central heat

Central heating

A central heating system provides warmth to the whole interior of a building from one point to multiple rooms. When combined with other systems in order to control the building climate, the whole system may be a HVAC system.Central heating differs from local heating in that the heat generation...

. They generally consisted of three bedrooms and a bath upstairs, and also a living room, dining room, and a kitchen downstairs. (See the Salmon Street photo for examples of this type of row home.)

Port Richmond residents were frugal and bought produce from the many street vendors who came by daily with their horse-drawn carts, loaded with fresh vegetables from nearby farms, located not very far away. Housewives could buy cabbage

Cabbage

Cabbage is a popular cultivar of the species Brassica oleracea Linne of the Family Brassicaceae and is a leafy green vegetable...

, cucumber

Cucumber

The cucumber is a widely cultivated plant in the gourd family Cucurbitaceae, which includes squash, and in the same genus as the muskmelon. The plant is a creeping vine which bears cylindrical edible fruit when ripe. There are three main varieties of cucumber: "slicing", "pickling", and...

s, potato

Potato

The potato is a starchy, tuberous crop from the perennial Solanum tuberosum of the Solanaceae family . The word potato may refer to the plant itself as well as the edible tuber. In the region of the Andes, there are some other closely related cultivated potato species...

es, apple

Apple

The apple is the pomaceous fruit of the apple tree, species Malus domestica in the rose family . It is one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits, and the most widely known of the many members of genus Malus that are used by humans. Apple grow on small, deciduous trees that blossom in the spring...

s, and other vegetables by the bushel

Bushel

A bushel is an imperial and U.S. customary unit of dry volume, equivalent in each of these systems to 4 pecks or 8 gallons. It is used for volumes of dry commodities , most often in agriculture...

and store or preserve them for the winter.

Gas mains were installed in the neighborhood by the city of Philadelphia, and gas was metered into each home for cooking and illumination. The meter was in the basement, and required someone in the household to occasionally feed it coins to keep the gas flowing.

On Port Richmond sidewalks, tall gas lamps illuminated the streets. During each evening a lamplighter

Lamplighter

A lamplighter, historically, was an employee of a town who lit street lights, generally by means of a wick on a long pole. At dawn, they would return and extinguish them using a small hook on the same pole. Early street lights were generally candles, oil, and similar consumable liquid or solid...

would come by to light the street lamps by igniting them with a very long device he held up in his hands.

Source: The Challenge of the Times, by Tom Bojanowski, 1992, privately published.

Wartime heritage

Port Richmond played a major maritime role in American wars from the American Revolution

American Revolution

The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...

and onwards through World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. The William Cramp & Sons Shipbuilding Company, established in 1830 and located nearby, provided skilled work for local workers, who built the battleship

Battleship

A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of heavy caliber guns. Battleships were larger, better armed and armored than cruisers and destroyers. As the largest armed ships in a fleet, battleships were used to attain command of the sea and represented the apex of a...

s and the for the Spanish-American War

Spanish-American War

The Spanish–American War was a conflict in 1898 between Spain and the United States, effectively the result of American intervention in the ongoing Cuban War of Independence...

in the late 19th century.

The shipyard, and others in the area, also built surface ships during the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

—such as the USS Kensington

USS Kensington (1862)

The second USS Kensington was a steamship in the United States Navy.Kensington was built at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, by J. W. Lynn in 1858 and was purchased by the Union Navy at Boston, Massachusetts, 27 January 1862...

—and during World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, and World War II

World War II

when Cramps' workforce employed 18,000 skilled workers.

During World War II, Port Richmond contained numerous docks and wharfs for the loading and unloading of war cargo. In addition, the riverside area contained numerous ancillary facilities, such as warehouses, work shops, and offices.

The Reading Railroad had used the port as a terminus for the transfer of coal, and, during the war, railroad service remained a vital function of the port, for its ability to quickly transfer goods to and from the port. The old Orinoka Mills in Richmond, was used as a training and wartime production facility in association with Mastbaum during the war.

Today, the port is a shell of its former World War II self, although some marine services still remain, such as the Tioga Marine Terminal at Tioga and Delaware Avenue.

Today's Port Richmond

Today, Port Richmond is a vibrant neighborhood with a deep and proud cultural history encompassing several centuries.

Stores, some located down side streets, are small and numerous because of the nature of the existing row home architecture where row homes and homefronts have been converted to use as stores. However, many of these stores and drinking establishments offer food, drink and charm which is unique to the neighborhood. There are many Polish

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

delis and restaurants throughout the neighborhood, evidence of the Polish ethnic background of the neighborhood. The neighborhood continues to attract Polish

Poles

thumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe...

immigrants.

In addition to the area's Polish ethnicity, Lithuania

Lithuania

Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...

ns —- who have historically always been strongly linked with the Polish nation —- hold their dances, as well as catered affairs for the community, at the Lithuanian Dance Hall on Allegheny Avenue, just a few blocks west of Richmond Street. The Lithuanian Music Hall is currently the home of the Theatre Company of Port Richmond, a community theater providing entertainment to the community since 1984.

Many Port Richmond homes have been refurbished and are now occupied increasingly by younger people, who no longer walk to work at the once bustling Port Richmond docks or to the tanneries and looms of their predecessors, but are employed in various parts of the city of Philadelphia, returning home in the evenings to the comfort of their picturesque neighborhood. Unfortunately, as the narrow side streets are a product of the horse-and-buggy

Horse and buggy

A horse and buggy or horse and carriage refers to a light, simple, two-person carriage of the late 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries, drawn usually by one or sometimes by two horses...

era, car parking is a problem.

Principal thoroughfares

The main thoroughfares of Port Richmond are Allegheny Avenue, running east/west, Richmond Street and Aramingo Avenue, both running north/south.

Allegheny Avenue is the location of the largest catholic church in the area Nativity B.V.M. as well as Our Lady Help of Christians Church. Their children, along with St. Adalbert's attend Our Lady of Port Richmond Regional Catholic School.

Richmond Street, south of Allegheny Avenue, runs parallel to Interstate 95 and contains a large number of Polish shops which serve the local Polish community. Krakus supermarket is shown in the photo at right. Syrenica, a Polish restaurant, is located across the street from Krakus.

Italian and Polish bakeries bake fresh bread and various traditional pastries and meats. A small luncheon restaurant called "Kitty's" (formerly "Rats") features a collage of pictures that splash the walls with the history of the neighborhood. It is located on the corner of Salmon and Somerset streets.

Port Richmond is also historically noted for the 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...

tracks that run down Richmond Street (see photo at top of page) along the Delaware River. The trolleys have recently been restored and are running again.

Center City Philadelphia, with its metropolitan stores and historic tourist attractions, is not that far away. There is a southbound entrance to Interstate 95

Interstate 95 in Pennsylvania

Interstate 95 is an Interstate highway running from Miami, Florida north to Houlton, Maine. In the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, the route is known by many as the Delaware Expressway, but is officially named The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Highway. and locally known as "95"...

on Allegheny Avenue, a half block east of Richmond Street, and I-95 will quickly take you to Center City Philadelphia, areas of South Philadelphia

South Philadelphia

South Philadelphia, nicknamed South Philly, is the section of Philadelphia bounded by South Street to the north, the Delaware River to the east and south, and the Schuylkill River to the west.-History:...

or the Philadelphia International Airport

Philadelphia International Airport

Philadelphia International Airport is a major airport in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, and is the largest airport in the Delaware Valley region and in Pennsylvania...

.

On the other hand, to see the dynamic structures of Very Old Philadelphia

Old City, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Old City is a neighborhood in Center City, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, in the area near e Delaware River where William Penn and the Quakers first settled...

, a drive to center city could be made south on Richmond Street and continuing on south on Delaware Avenue, providing a wonderful view of what remains of the ship terminals that once made the Port of Philadelphia

Port of Philadelphia

The Port of Philadelphia, within the municipal boundaries of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is located near the navigable end of the Delaware River, south of New York City and north of Washington, D.C...

a bustling seaport.

Polish heritage

During the late 19th and early 20th centuries when immigration was at its peak in Philadelphia, Polish people settled on farms in Port Richmond. Soon, the Polish population increased massively, which produced rowhomes with their notable marble steps, and creation of Saint Adalbert Church

St. Adalbert in Philadelphia

The Church of St. Adalbert in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is a Polish Catholic national church, constructed in the Polish Cathedral style. It is located in the Port Richmond neighborhood at 2645 E...

, which was built in Polish Cathedral style

Polish Cathedral style

The Polish Cathedral architectural style is a North American genre of Catholic church architecture found throughout the Great Lakes and Middle Atlantic regions as well as in parts of New England...

.

Today, there are a number of restaurants and stores in the area of Richmond Street and Allegheny Avenue that cater to the Polish-American community. The Krakus Market on Richmond Street offers a large selection of Polish and Eastern Europe

Eastern Europe

Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...

an foods, including a variety of kiebasy

Kielbasa

Kielbasa, kołbasa, kobasa, kovbasa, kobasa, kobasi, and kubasa are common North American anglicizations for a type of Eastern European sausage. Synonyms include Polish sausage, Ukrainian sausage, etc...

, Polish canned goods, Polish newspapers and various types of famous Polish pastries, such as Babka, Chrusciki and Paczki

Paczki

Pączki are pastries traditional to Polish cuisine . Pączki is the plural form of the Polish word pączek , though many English speakers use paczki as singular and paczkis as plural. In English, the common pronunciation imitates the Polish pronunciation, but some speakers pronounce the word or...

.

Philadelphia’s famous award-winning Polish American String Band

String band

A string band is an old-time music or jazz ensemble made up mainly or solely of string instruments. String bands were popular in the 1920s and 1930s, and are among the forerunners of modern country music and bluegrass.-String bands in old-time music:...

which marches in the famous Mummers Parade

Mummers Parade

The Mummers Parade is held each New Year's Day in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Local clubs compete in one of four categories . They prepare elaborate costumes and moveable scenery, which take months to complete...

down 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...

on New Year’s Day, sometimes marches and struts through the neighborhood, as on Port Richmond’s Memorial Day celebration.

Despite its strong Polish roots, where even now, many still speak the language in ordinary conversation, the area has also served other nationalities, such as the Lithuanians

Lithuanians

Lithuanians are the Baltic ethnic group native to Lithuania, where they number around 2,765,600 people. Another million or more make up the Lithuanian diaspora, largely found in countries such as the United States, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Russia, United Kingdom and Ireland. Their native language...

.

A half-dozen blocks west on Allegheny from Richmond Street, there is an ancient park, Campbell's Square, where neighborhood children play and where special community events are sometimes held.

Education

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 public schools.

The Free Library of Philadelphia

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 Richmond Branch.

Notable people

French/American concert pianist, Sandrine Erdely-Sayo
Sandrine Erdely-Sayo
Sandrine Erdely-Sayo, born October 11, 1968, in Perpignan, France, is a Jewish French-American pianist. She was a child prodigy who could play Bach and read music before knowing how to read a book.- Biography :...

, lives in Port Richmond.
Sculptor Richard Stankiewicz
Richard Stankiewicz
Richard Stankiewicz was an American sculptor, known for his work in scrap metal.Stankiewicz was born in Philadelphia, but spent his formative years in Detroit. He began painting and sculpting while in the United States Navy, in which he served from 1941 until 1947...

grew up in Port Richmond.
Screenwriter-movie producer Joe Augustyn
Joe Augustyn
Joe Augustyn is a screenwriter and film producer. Born in Philadelphia, he pursued painting and cartooning before attending Temple University where he studied film theory and basic production....

Night of the Demons
Night of the Demons
Night of the Demons is a 1988 cult classic horror film written and produced by Joe Augustyn and directed by Kevin S. Tenney. The film tells the story of ten high school seniors having a Halloween party in an isolated mortuary...

grew up in Port Richmond, in the same house formerly home to Richard Stankiewicz
Richard Stankiewicz
Richard Stankiewicz was an American sculptor, known for his work in scrap metal.Stankiewicz was born in Philadelphia, but spent his formative years in Detroit. He began painting and sculpting while in the United States Navy, in which he served from 1941 until 1947...

.
Playwright James Penzi
James Penzi
James Penzi is an American poet and playwright. His poems have been published in numerous small press periodicals and literary journals, including Mundus Artium , kayak, Montana Gothic, Caligula Press , Contact II....

grew up in Port Richmond.
Former ECW, WCW, WWE, and current TNA superstar Stevie Richards
Stevie Richards
Michael Manna is an American professional wrestler, better known by the ring name Stevie Richards. Also known by his ring names, Steven Richards and Dr...

still lives in Port Richmond along with his family.
Winchester J. Arkman Sr., sole proprietor of the world famous Arkman's Tavern resides in Port Richmond.
Arthur Smash, Outfielder for the Philadelphia Phillies
Philadelphia Phillies
The Philadelphia Phillies are a Major League Baseball team. They are the oldest continuous, one-name, one-city franchise in all of professional American sports, dating to 1883. The Phillies are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League...

c. 1919, grew up and lived in Port Richmond until his untimely death in 1931.
Piotr Polkowski - The most influential Polish-American businessman and mobster of the next 20 years visited Port Richmond while on his trip to Philadelphia in 1999.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.