Franklintown | |
|---|---|
 The Third Philadelphia Mint, now part of the Community College of Philadelphia is in Franklintown | |
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| Country |  United States |
| State | Pennsylvania |
| County | Philadelphia County |
| City | Philadelphia |
| Area code(s) | 215, 267 and 445 |
Franklintown, or Franklin Town, is an area in the Logan Square neighborhood of Philadelphia which was the subject of an urban planning effort in the 1970s and early 1980s. [1]
Finkel [2] (who calls the neighborhood "Franklin Town") gives its location as "Vine to Callowhill Streets, vic. 17th Street". The same source defines the boundaries of the Spring Garden and Logan Square neighborhoods in such a way that each completely contains Franklin Town.
The Logan Square Neighborhood Association and the Spring Garden Civic Association, which represent their respective neighborhoods, both consider Spring Garden Street to be the boundary between the two neighborhoods. Franklin Town is therefore in the area represented by the Logan Square Neighborhood Association. It has no separate civic association.
The Franklin Town Development Corporation was created by Smith, Kline & French, Philadelphia Electric Company, electrical equipment manufacturer ITE International (now part of Siemens [3] ), the real-estate concern Korman Corporation, and brokerage house Butcher & Sherred (later Butcher & Singer [4] ). [5] All except Butcher & Sherred were large landowners in the area. The FTDC, led by former HUD administrator Jason Nathan, hired noted architect Philip Johnson to create a master plan for development. [6]
Johnson began work on his design in 1970, and it was released the following year. The plan included the rerouting of parts of 17th Street and 18th Street to create the diagonal Franklin Town Boulevard. This was to lead, at its southeastern terminus, to a central "town square". [7] This part of the design was never realized.
In 1991 a park at the northwest terminus of Franklin Town Boulevard was dedicated as Franklin Town Park. Many of the residents of the neighborhood to be made into Franklin Town had been threatened with home and business loss by eminent domain, and some avoided this by accepting relocation in new or renovated houses within their neighborhood. They still resented the taking by a private corporation, and also resented the fact that buildings were leveled and replaced by surface parking lots instead of new construction as planned. In fact, empty lots still persist fifty years after the 1971 proposal. Due to these negative feelings and in response to neighborhood petitions to Philadelphia City Hall, the name of the park was officially changed from Franklin Town Park to Matthias Baldwin Park in 2011. For the same reasons, the name of the neighborhood was changed in 2019 from Franklintown (sic) to Baldwin Park on the neighborhood community bulletin board Nextdoor.
Franklintown, now the Baldwin Park neighborhood, consists of newer highrise and midrise structures. This contrasts with the neighborhoods north of Spring Garden Street, which are mostly densely packed historic rowhouses. [8]
Community College of Philadelphia and the Philadelphia Pennsylvania Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are in Franklin Town.
The City Beautiful Movement was a reform philosophy of North American architecture and urban planning that flourished during the 1890s and 1900s with the intent of introducing beautification and monumental grandeur in cities. It was a part of the progressive social reform movement in North America under the leadership of the upper-middle class concerned with poor living conditions in all major cities. The movement, which was originally associated mainly with Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Kansas City and Washington, D.C., promoted beauty not only for its own sake, but also to create moral and civic virtue among urban populations. Advocates of the philosophy believed that such beautification could promote a harmonious social order that would increase the quality of life, while critics would complain that the movement was overly concerned with aesthetics at the expense of social reform; Jane Jacobs referred to the movement as an "architectural design cult."
Washington Square West is a neighborhood Center City Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The neighborhood roughly corresponds to the area between 7th and Broad Streets and between Chestnut and South Streets, bordering on the Independence Mall tourist area directly northeast, Market East to the north, Old City and Society Hill to the East, Bella Vista directly south, Hawthorne to the southwest, and mid-town Philadelphia and Rittenhouse Square to the west. In addition to being a desirable residential community, it is considered a hip, trendy neighborhood that offers a diverse array of shops, restaurants, and coffee houses. Washington Square West contains many gay-friendly establishments and hosts annual events celebrating LGBT culture in Philadelphia including OutFest. The area takes its name from Washington Square, a historic urban park in the northeastern corner of the neighborhood.
Fairmount is a neighborhood within Lower North Philadelphia. Its boundaries are north of Fairmount Avenue, west of Corinthian Avenue, south of Girard Avenue and east of The Schuylkill River. While this may be the most accurate demarcation, the area's boundaries fluctuate depending how the neighborhood is defined. Several other neighborhoods near Fairmount are sometimes also collectively called Fairmount, including: Spring Garden, Franklintown and Francisville. Fairmount and neighboring Spring Garden are commonly referred to as the "Art Museum Area," for their proximity to and association with the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Fairmount is also the location of the Eastern State Penitentiary.
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 southwest, to Cheltenham Avenue on the north and to the Torresdale Avenue on the east. Adjacent neighborhoods are Bridesburg, Kensington, Juniata, Oxford Circle, Summerdale, and Wissinoming.
Center City includes the central business district and central neighborhoods of Philadelphia in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. It comprises the area that made up the City of Philadelphia prior to the Act of Consolidation, 1854, which extended the city borders to be coterminous with Philadelphia County.
Kensington is a neighborhood in Philadelphia that belongs to or divides Lower Northeast and North Philadelphia. 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 or Lower 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 previously included but have developed new identities with gentrification. 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.
Logan Circle, also known as Logan Square, is an open-space park in Center City Philadelphia's northwest quadrant and one of the five original planned squares laid out on the city grid. The centerpiece of the park is the Logan Circle, a circular area centered on a large water feature, bounded by a traffic circle carrying 19th Street and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. The circle exists within the original bounds of the square; the names Logan Square and Logan Circle are used interchangeably when referring to the park. Originally "Northwest Square" in William Penn's 1684 plan for the city, the square was renamed in 1825 after Philadelphia statesman James Logan. The park is the focal point of the eponymous neighborhood. Logan Square was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1981.
Society Hill is a historic neighborhood in Center City Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with a population of 6,215 as of the 2010 United States Census. Settled in the early 1680s, Society Hill is one of the oldest residential neighborhoods in Philadelphia. After urban decay developed between the late 19th and early 20th centuries, an urban renewal program began in the 1950s, restoring the area and its many historic buildings. Society Hill has since become one of the most expensive neighborhoods with the highest average income and second highest real estate values in Philadelphia. Society Hill's historic colonial architecture, along with planning and restoration efforts, led the American Planning Association to designate it, in 2008, as one of the great American neighborhoods and a good example of sustainable urban living.
Logan is a neighborhood in the upper North Philadelphia section of the city of Philadelphia, in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The majority of the neighborhood falls within the 19141 zip code, but some of it falls within 19140. The neighborhood is sometimes confused with the Olney neighborhood of Philadelphia. Olney Avenue extends from both the Olney and Logan neighborhoods of the city. The Olney Transportation Center is located in Logan.
Andorra is a neighborhood in Northwest Philadelphia, which is a section of the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Andorra is a part of Roxborough, being within the borders of the original Roxborough Township and having the same zip code (19128). At some point during the 19th or 20th century, Andorra developed a cultural identity as a neighborhood within Roxborough. Andorra was named "Andorra" after a fancied resemblance to the small country of the same name which sits astride the Pyrenees between France and Spain.
Logan Square is a neighborhood in Philadelphia. Bounded by Market Street on the south, Spring Garden Street on the north, Broad Street on the east, and the Schuylkill River on the west, it occupies the northwest quadrant of Center City. The square for which it is named is one of the five "squares", or parks, central to William Penn's design for Philadelphia. Originally called Northwest Square, it was renamed in honor of James Logan, an eighteenth-century mayor of Philadelphia.
Nicetown–Tioga is a neighborhood in the North Philadelphia section of the city of Philadelphia, in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. It comprises two smaller, older neighborhoods, Nicetown and Tioga, although the distinction between the two is rarely emphasized today. The name "Nicetown" is often simply used to refer to any part of Nicetown–Tioga.
Spring Garden is a neighborhood in central Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, bordering Center City on the north. Spring Garden is a neighborhood that combines diverse residential neighborhoods and significant cultural attractions. The residential areas on the north side of the neighborhood are composed mostly of brick and brownstone three-story townhouses built during the mid-to-late 19th century. The houses include townhouses in the Italianate style, Second Empire, Queen Anne, and Venetian Gothic. Many streets include "terraced" set ups, which include a small gardened plot, often raised, in front of the house. The residential areas to the south are dominated by taller, multi-family buildings built during the 20th century. The museum area, also to the south of Spring Garden Street, includes the Rodin Museum, the Central Library of Philadelphia, and the Barnes Museum. Before consolidation of Philadelphia, Spring Garden was a district of Philadelphia County.
Packer Park is a neighborhood in the South Philadelphia section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States that originally included 1,000 homes built in two unique builder developments of Packer Park 1950s and Brinton Estates 1990s. It is now one of four residential communities to be designated as Packer Park. The original footprint community is also one of four adjacent communities that form Philadelphia's Sports Complex Special Services District. The approximate boundaries are Packer Avenue to the north, Hartranft Street to the south including FDR Park farther south, Broad Street to the east known as the Southern Parkway and I-76 to the far west. Packer Park has been considered home to one of the most organized community groups in the South Philadelphia region.
The Philadelphia Pennsylvania Temple is a temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Logan Square neighborhood of Philadelphia. Completed in 2016, the intent to construct the temple was announced on October 4, 2008, during the church's 178th Semiannual General Conference by LDS Church president Thomas S. Monson. The temple is the church's first in the state of Pennsylvania, and the first temple between Washington, D.C. and New York City.
Philadelphia Parks & Recreation (PPR) is the municipal department responsible for managing parks, recreation centers, playgrounds, trails, community gardens, and historic properties in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its inventory includes more than 150 parks and 170 recreation centers and playgrounds. It became the successor to the Fairmount Park Commission and the City of Philadelphia Department of Recreation in 2010.
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.
Matthias Baldwin Park is a two-acre (0.81 ha) public park at 423 North 19th Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.