Bridesburg is the northernmost neighborhood in the River Wards section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.[1] A mostly working-class neighborhood, Bridgesburg is an historically German and Irish community, with a significant community of Polish immigrants who arrived mostly in the early- to mid-twentieth century. The community is home to two Catholic churches: All Saints Church, designed by Edwin Forrest Durang[2] and built in 1889; and Saint John Cantius Church, built in 1898 in Polish cathedral style.
The historic boundaries of the former borough of Bridesburg were the original course of Frankford Creek around the south and west, the Delaware River to the southeast, and Port Richmond to the southwest, along a border at Pike Street near Wheatsheaf Lane. Aramingo Avenue/I-95 is the border to the western edge of the neighborhood that borders Frankford. Adjacent neighborhoods are Wissinoming to the northeast, Whitehall to the north, Frankford to the northwest, and Port Richmond to the southwest.
The 19137 ZIP Code, of which Bridesburg forms the major part, extends as far to the southwest as Castor Avenue, and includes some area to the northwest of I-95 and the original course of Frankford Creek.[3] A small portion of Bridesburg (also 19137) is situated directly next to the 19124 ZIP code known as Frankford. Physical boundaries of Bridesburg are: Bridge Street on the north, Aramingo Avenue and I-95 to the northwest, Frankford Creek to the south, and the Delaware River to the east.
History
Before the arrival of Europeans, the Lenni Lenape Indians inhabited the region. Explorer Henry Hudson in 1609 was the first European to set foot in this region, and based on his findings these Indians were considered to be the first inhabitants of the area.
New Sweden
In 1638, the Swedes bought land east of the Delaware River from the Indians and named it New Sweden. The Swedes lived with the Indians on friendly terms. By 1645 the Swedes had expanded to the Northeast of modern-day Philadelphia, and in 1647 the Dutch arrived. But it was not until the 1680s when the English came with William Penn that the area was actually developed. After 1750, Germans then settled the area, particularly in Bridesburg and Frankford.
Founded in the early 19th century, Bridesburg, a tract of land formerly belonging to Point-no-Point, took its name from Joseph Kirkbride, who for many years owned land there and was proprietor of a ferry over Frankford Creek, and to whom the Legislature gave the right to build a bridge and receive toll for passage over the same by act of March 20, 1811. On April 1, 1833, Philadelphia County bought the Kirkbride bridge and two-and-a-half acres of land annexed for $5,500. Kirkbridesburg was considered too long a name for convenience, and the shorter "Bridesburg" was adopted. Bridesburg was incorporated as a borough on April 1, 1848. In 1854, the borough was annexed to the city of Philadelphia in the Act of Consolidation.
Point-No-Point
The region was known in Colonial times as Point-no-Point, due to the deceptive appearance of the blunt cape at the mouth of Frankford Creek. When first seen going northward it appeared to be a point, sharply jutting into the stream, but upon approaching, it lost its character and seemed to be an ordinary portion of the right bank; on further approach it seemed to again jut out into a point.
Principal T. Worcester Worrell used to teach his pupils the ditty:
Point look out, point look in, Point no Point, and point ag'in.
Many famous personalities in history have passed through the lands of Point-no-Point. The second President of the United States wrote a letter to his wife Abigail describing his travels in Point-no-Point.
The road to Point-no-point lies along the river Delaware, in fair sight of it and its opposite shore. For near four miles the road is as strait as the streets of Philadelphia. On each side, are beautiful rows of trees, buttonwoods, oaks, walnuts, cherries and willows, especially down towards the banks of the river. The meadows, pastures and grass plats are as green as leeks. There are many fruit trees and fine orchards set with the nicest regularity. But the fields of grain, the rye and wheat exceed all description. These fields are all sown in ridges and the furrow between each couple of ridges is as plainly to be seen as if a swath had been mown along. Yet it is no wider than a ploughshare and it is as strait as an arrow. It looks as if the sower had gone along the furrow with his spectacles to pick up every grain that should accidentally fall into it. The corn is just coming out of the ground. The furrows struck out for the hills to be planted in, are each way as straight, as mathematical right lines; and the squares between every four hills as exact as they could be done by plumb and line, or scale and compass.[4]
Bridesburg Borough
VFW Post 2
Bridesburg was incorporated as a borough on April 1, 1848;[5] it included the peninsula between the lower Frankford Creek and the Delaware River, and beyond Richmond district, the boundary lying near the projected line of Pike street, not far from Wheat Sheaf Lane.
It was first called Kirkbridesburg, for Joseph Kirkbride, who operated a ferry to New Jersey, and in 1811 built a toll bridge at Bridge street over Frankford Creek. The villagers decided the name was too long, and shortened it to Bridesburg. The Bridesburg Manufacturing Company was established in 1820 by Kirkbride. It was originally a textile mill on Frankford Creek. Industry followed the company into Bridesburg, especially with the establishment of the Bridesburg Manufacturing Company and the U.S. Arsenal in 1816.
In 1854, the borough was annexed to the city of Philadelphia in the Act of Consolidation.
At the end of the 19th century, Costello, Cooey & Co., a company specializing in kidskin leather (from young goats) and the chromium tanning process, employed more than 100 workers. It operated on the east side of Orthodox Street on the Frankford Creek between 1897 and 1914, "with three modern brick factory buildings and brick warehouse: up-to-date equipment for the manufacture of glazed leather and leather for a patent kid, side and horse, with the capacity of from 300 to 400 dozen daily."[6]
Costello, Cooey & Co. Fine Chrome Kid. Bridesburg, Philadelphia. North American. 6 April, 1908.
Robert Cooey (1840-1903), an emigrant from Newtownstewart, County Tyrone, arrived in Philadelphia on the packet ship The Provincialist in 1851 with his sister Isabella at the age of 10. He went to work with his brother and father in the tanneries of the Northern Liberties. In 1877, he partnered. partnered with Mark Costello (1844-1928), an emigrant from Ballinderry, to form a Philadelphiatannery, with Charles O'Neill, John McStay, and Christopher Conway. They rented a narrow store front at 2nd & Willow Street, with its rail lines down the center, bringing livestock and their valuable skin, especially goats, sheep and calves but also cattle and horses. The firm specialized in moroccan leather and worked leather into products ranging from gloves to handbags to shoes.
In 1897, Costello, Cooey & Co. moved to Bridesburg, into "the main building of two stories, containing offices, glazing room, toilets, dyeing and buffing room, one-story tannery building, containing vats and accessories thereto, the two buildings being connected by enclosed passage-way; a boiler and engine house, boilers and accessories for 250 horse-power, and steam engine of 150 horse-power, and piece of land…”[6] By 1908, they opened an Arch Street showroom for shoes and other goods.
In 1895, John Rose & Sons, undertakers, John Rose (1855-1916), an emigrantcabinetmaker from London, proprietor, opened at 2616 Bridge Street, in a former tavern and schoolhouse that still stands today, with son Alfred P. G. Rose and descendants succeeding. The family served the community as the Rose Funeral Home until 2023. William Tippetts Rose, a son, ran parlors in Frankford, and purchased the Beach Haven Terrace Yacht Club on Long Beach Island in 1933.
Another son Charles Samuel Rose married Martha Cooey, the daughter of Robert Cooey and Sophia Borbeck, at the Bridesburg Presbyterian Church, on January 27, 1909. Their sons Robert Cooey Rose and John Samuel Rose operated funeral businesses Frankford and Lawncrest into the 1970s. Martha, her children, grandchildren and descendants continue the family tradition of life on Long Beach Island.[7]
Bridesburg Foundry has been in continuous operation since 1914. The company began in Bridesburg and then moved to its present location in Whitehall, Pennsylvania in 1941.[8]
Polish families migrated to Bridesburg between 1900 and 1920. "The Frankford leather plant of Robert H. Foerderer Inc. originally hired Polish men to work in curing the hides. This process consisted of soaking hides for days in dog manure to soften it. The smell of the manure and the need to handle the soaked leather made this job unacceptable to most Philadelphia workers. However, the new Polish immigrant, excluded from most factory work in the city, flocked to Bridesburg for work."[9]
Bridesburg is home to the second oldest VFW Post in the world, founded in 1899.
Bridesburg is also home to the Joseph A. Ferko String Band. The Ferko String Band is a member of the Philadelphia String Band Association, which is a division of the Philadelphia Mummers Parade.
Population
As of the 2010 Census, Bridesburg had a population of 8,638, of which 90% was white, 5.5% Hispanic, 1.9% was black or African-American, 0.6% was Asian, and the remaining 2% was other or mixed races.[10]
For its size, Bridesburg is the home of a large number of churches:
All Saints Roman Catholic Church, Thompson and Buckius Streets, designed by noted ecclesiastical architect Edwin Forrest Durang.[2] (Parish closed. Building stands)
At one time, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia operated two Catholic schools in Bridesburg: All Saints School (1864-2004) and St. John Cantius School. Pope John Paul II Regional Catholic School (formerly St. John Cantius Elementary School) was in operation from 2004 until 2012. Students choosing Catholic education in a Catholic school attend Blessed Trinity Regional School (formerly St. Timothy's School) in Mayfair since September 2012.
Charter schools include:
Franklin Towne Charter Elementary School (grades K-8)
Fishtown is a neighborhood in the River Wards section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Located northeast of Center City Philadelphia, its borders are somewhat disputed today due to many factors, but are roughly defined by the triangle created by the Delaware River, Front Street, and York Street. Some newer residents expand the area to Lehigh Avenue to the northeast, while some older residents shrink the area to Norris Street. It is served by the Market–Frankford Line rapid transit subway/elevated line of the SEPTA system. Fishtown has long been a largely working class Irish Catholic and Irish American neighborhood, though in recent years it has seen a large influx of young urban professionals and gentrification.
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Overbrook is a historic neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is situated in the northwest of West Philadelphia.
Frankford is a neighborhood in the Northeast section of Philadelphia situated about six miles (10 km) northeast of Center City. Although its borders are vaguely defined, the neighborhood is bounded roughly by the original course of Frankford Creek on the south to Castor Avenue on the northwest and southwest, to Cheltenham Avenue on the north, and to Aramingo Avenue and I-95 on the east. Adjacent neighborhoods are Bridesburg, Juniata, Northwood, Summerdale, and Wissinoming.
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Holmesburg began as a Village within Lower Dublin Township, Pennsylvania. It is now a neighborhood in the Northeast section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Holmesburg was named in Honor of Surveyor General of Pennsylvania Thomas Holme, who was a cartographer.
Kensington is a neighborhood in Philadelphia that belongs to Lower Northeast. As with all neighborhoods in the city, the lack of any official designation means the boundaries of the area vary between sources over time and are disputed among locals. Kensington, as most long-term residents view it, refers generally to the area consisting of Kensington, East Kensington, West Kensington, and Harrowgate. The adjacent Fairhill and Norris Square neighborhoods are more separate but may be included in Kensington; Fishtown and South (Olde) Kensington were historically included. The most conservative boundaries of the neighborhood, shown in the map below, are Front Street and 5th Street to the west, the Amtrak train tracks to the North, Trenton Avenue, the Trenton Avenue train tracks, and Frankford Avenue to the east, and Cecil B. Moore Avenue to the south.
Port Richmond is a neighborhood in the River Wards section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It is notable for its extremely large Polish immigrant and Polish American community, and it has been known as the Little Poland of Philadelphia. The neighborhood is also home to a large Irish American community and sizable German, Lithuanian, Italian, and Puerto Rican communities, along with a historic Jewish community, 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. A small portion of the neighborhood, north of Castor Avenue, falls into the 19137 ZIP code.
Torresdale, also formerly known as Torrisdale, is a neighborhood in the Far Northeast section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Torresdale is located along the Delaware River between Holmesburg and Bensalem Township in neighboring Bucks County.
Frankford Creek is a minor tributary of the Delaware River in southeast Pennsylvania. It derived its name from today's Frankford, Philadelphia neighborhood.
Juniata is a working class, predominantly Hispanic and Caucasian neighborhood in North Philadelphia, which is a section of the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Juniata is located south of the Juniata Golf Club in Tacony Creek Park. It is bordered to the east by Frankford, to the west by Feltonville, and to the south by Harrowgate and Port Richmond. The neighborhood is bordered by G Street to the west, Juniata Park to the north, Tacony Creek to the east, and by SEPTA rail tracks to the south. Juniata shares the ZIP code of 19124 with the nearby neighborhood of Frankford.
Oxford Township was a township in Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, United States. The township ceased to exist and was incorporated into the City of Philadelphia following the passage of the Act of Consolidation, 1854.
Oxford Circle is a neighborhood in the lower Northeast section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Its namesake is the much used traffic circle at Roosevelt Boulevard and Oxford Avenue. The Oxford Circle neighborhood has traditionally included the areas up to Rhawnhurst and Mayfair but does not really have a fixed boundary, other than in publications about Philadelphia which are of a public relations or informational nature.
Wissinoming is a neighborhood in the Near Northeast section of Philadelphia, United States. It was the site of locomotive builder Matthias Baldwin's estate "Wissinoming", which was located near Tacony and Van Kirk Streets. The current Wissinoming is bordered by Mayfair on the west and Tacony on the north, Bridesburg on the south, I-95 and the Delaware River on the east, and Frankford on the southwest. Wissinoming has two ZIP codes: 19124 and 19135. Physical boundaries are: Levick Street on the north, Bridge Street on the south, I-95 and the Delaware River on the east, and Frankford Avenue on the west.
U.S. Route 13 (US 13) is a United States Numbered Highway running from Fayetteville, North Carolina, north to Morrisville, Pennsylvania. The route runs for 49.359 miles (79.436 km) through the Delaware Valley metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The route enters the state from Delaware in Marcus Hook, Delaware County. It continues northeast through Delaware County, passing through the city of Chester before heading through suburban areas along Chester Pike to Darby. US 13 enters the city of Philadelphia on Baltimore Avenue and runs through West Philadelphia to University City, where it turns north along several city streets before heading east across the Schuylkill River along Girard Avenue. The route turns north and heads to North Philadelphia, where it runs northeast along Hunting Park Avenue. US 13 becomes concurrent with US 1 on Roosevelt Boulevard, continuing into Northeast Philadelphia. US 13 splits southeast on a one-way pair of streets before heading northeast out of the city on Frankford Avenue. The route continues into Bucks County as Bristol Pike, heading northeast to Bristol, where it becomes a divided highway. US 13 becomes a freeway in Tullytown and continues north to its terminus at US 1 in Falls Township, near Morrisville. US 13 roughly parallels Interstate 95 (I-95) through its course in Pennsylvania.
St. John Cantius Roman Catholic Church, Philadelphia, is located in Northeast Philadelphia in Bridesburg and serves the local Polish-speaking population in the area. It is located at 4415 Almond Street.
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Olde Richmond is a neighborhood in the River Wards section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is notable for its historically large Polish immigrant, Polish American community, and Irish American community. The U.S. ZIP Code for Olde Richmond is 19125 and its post office is located at 1602 Frankford Avenue.
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