Franklinville | |
---|---|
Coordinates: 40°00′36″N75°08′06″W / 40.01°N 75.135°W | |
Country | United States |
State | Pennsylvania |
County | Philadelphia |
City | Philadelphia |
Area code(s) | 215, 267, and 445 |
Franklinville is a neighborhood of North Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. 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. [1]
Franklinville is a neighborhood that appears to no longer exist in current times, as not many residents in that area use the name to describe where they live. From the description above, one would be defining a possible description of Hunting Park and perhaps its borders with Nicetown-Tioga and Fairhill (to the south of W. Sedgley). It has previously been delineated as the "vicinity of Erie Avenue to Westmoreland Street, between Broad Street and Sedgley Avenue." [2]
The neighborhood was predominantly German and Irish into the mid 20th century. Today there is a large Hispanic population – most hailing from Puerto Rico – and African-American and Filipino families as well.
There is reference to a Franklinville schoolhouse in Philadelphia in 1865. [3]
Named for the Philadelphian Benjamin Franklin, the original 72-acre tract was farmland that was subdivided, beginning in 1852, into 1,000 lots for townhouses, sold with a minimum 20 foot frontage, for $500 or $600 each. The land was owned by Coleman Fisher, whose large house in the middle of Venango Street was moved in the early 20th century. [4] The Franklin Land Company, John Turner, president, met at Franklin Hall and was one of the first mutual land firms in the city. Turner wanted to "aid those of small means." His mansion, dating to 1750, was taken down to make room for the "industrial classes." An oil works employed many Franklinville men as did a steel nail manufacturer. [5] [6]
One of "those of small means" was Michael Carolan (1844-1906), an emigrant from Drumbaragh and Balrath Demesne townlands near Kells, County Meath, Ireland (arriving July 27, 1847), who moved here by 1891, from nearby Rowlandville. He came with wife Annie Larner (1852-1901) and six children. They settled home and business at the triangle created by the intersections of North Fifth Street, West Butler, Nicetown Lane (extinct), and the well-traveled Rising Sun Lane (Avenue). [7]
Michael was a blacksmith and horseshoer who apprenticed with Master blacksmith John Spencer, cousin of George Spencer who, with his wife, took the Carolans into their home to live. [8] The Spencers were members of the Society of Friends, and owned the old homestead where the Carolans stayed. It remains about a mile northeast of Willow Grove.
By 1865, Michael, age 21, opened his first shop on a farm in Abington Township, Montgomery County, about a mile and a half due north of Weldon. [9] A decade later, he began what would become a lucrative business on the busy Limekiln Pike at Dreshertown, in the Upper Dublin Township.
In 1882, Michael and family moved about ten miles south of where they resided in Fitzwatertown to the neighborhood that developed around the Rowland Company, near Wyoming Ave. and Tacony Creek. It was called Rowlandville (extinct). Their daughter Martha was born here, in 1882, and died six months later, according to her death certificate located at the Philadelphia City Archives. [11]
Michael established a new location for his business at Franklinville at the aforementioned triangle. By 1893, the family lives in the adjacent block, a townhouse rental at 3817 N. 5th St. [12]
All told, Annie gave birth to 17 children of which six survived. Michael and Annie left Immaculate Conception in Jenkintown and joined nearby St. Veronica's Catholic Church (est. 1872 by Irish people), just south of their home at 6th St. and Tioga Avenue. Annie died in 1901 at the age of 48.
They are interred, with many of their children, at the New Cathedral Cemetery (est. 1861), to the east of Franklinville in Francisville. Their surviving children bought a limestone headstone for the plot.
Upon Michaels's death in 1906, his daughter Helen and son-in-law, who had married another daughter, ran the business under "Nellie Carolan & Geo. Roth, horseshoers," until Roth died in 1910. Roth had been a boarder and an apprentice blacksmith to Michael in 1900 before he fell in love with Michael 's daughter Emma. After Roth's death, Emma married another blacksmith, George Washington Merritt.
Michael and Annie's six children married and lived in the neighborhood surrounding Franklinville such as Feltonville and Olney in North Philadelphia. [13]
There were five daughters: Elizabeth Macdonald, Helen Ann Heidenfelder, Mary Emma Roth Merritt, Anna Mary Carolan and Caroline Veronica McGrath. One son, Matthew William Carolan (1871-1942), survived to bring the surname forward with three children: George, Walter, and Ann, followed by three more generations as of 2025.
Willow Grove is a census-designated place (CDP) in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States. A community in Philadelphia's northern suburbs, the population was 13,730 at the 2020 census. It is located in Abington Township and Upper Moreland Township. Willow Grove was once known for Willow Grove Park, an amusement park that was open from 1896 to 1976, now the site of Willow Grove Park Mall. Willow Grove is considered an edge city of Philadelphia, with large amounts of retail and office space. It was a stop on the network for fugitive enslaved people, known as the Underground Railroad, in the mid 19th century.
Wyncote is a census-designated place (CDP) in Cheltenham Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States. It borders the northwestern and northeastern section of Philadelphia. Wyncote is located 11 miles from Center City Philadelphia at the southeasternmost tip of Montgomery County. The Jenkintown-Wyncote SEPTA station is the fifth busiest regional rail station in the SEPTA system.
Hunting Park is a neighborhood in the North Philadelphia section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.
Dresher is a community in Upper Dublin Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. The population was 5,610 at the 2000 census. Because Dresher is neither an incorporated area nor a census-designated place, all statistics are for the ZIP Code 19025, with which the community is coterminous.
Lawncrest is a neighborhood in the "Near" (lower) Northeast Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The name is an amalgam of Lawndale and Crescentville, the two primary communities that make up the neighborhood. The Philadelphia Inquirer does not consider Lawncrest to be a neighborhood.
Strawberry Mansion is a neighborhood in the U.S. city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, located east of Fairmount Park in North Philadelphia. The neighborhood is bounded by 33rd Street to the west, 29th Street to the east, Lehigh Avenue to the north, and Oxford Street to the south. As of the 2000 census, the neighborhood had a population of 22,562. It is often associated with the historic house of the same name, Historic Strawberry Mansion, located adjacent to the neighborhood and generally thought to be the source of the community's name.
Olney is a neighborhood in the North Philadelphia section of Philadelphia. It is roughly bounded by Roosevelt Boulevard to the south, Tacony Creek to the east, Godfrey Avenue to the north, and the railroad right-of-way west of 7th Street to the west.
West Oak Lane is a neighborhood in Northwest Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The neighborhood was developed primarily between the early 1920s and late 1930s, with the areas near to Cedarbrook constructed after World War II. At the northeast corner of Limekiln Pike and Washington Lane was the site of the Cedar Park Inn, a historic tavern built in the early 19th century, which was torn down sometime after 1931 as the neighborhood was being fully developed.
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.
Feltonville is a working-class neighborhood in North Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located east of Logan and Hunting Park, west of Lawncrest and Juniata, south of Olney, and north of Fairhill and Harrowgate. Feltonville is bounded by Erie Avenue to the south, Front Street to the west, Roosevelt Boulevard to the north, Tacony Creek to the northeast, and G Street to the east. It encompasses the extinct neighborhood of Rowlandville.
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.
Pennsylvania Route 152 (PA 152) is a 25.3-mile-long (40.7 km) state highway located in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The route travels north–south from an interchange with PA 309 located in the Cedarbrook neighborhood of Cheltenham Township in Montgomery County north to another interchange with PA 309 located northeast of Telford in Bucks County. PA 152 is known as Limekiln Pike for most of its length. From the southern terminus, the route passes through suburban areas to the north of Philadelphia, serving Dresher, Maple Glen, and Chalfont. North of Chalfont, PA 152 runs through rural suburbs of Philadelphia before reaching Silverdale. Past here, the road continues northwest through Perkasie, where it turns southwest and passes through Sellersville before reaching its northern terminus.
Nicetown–Tioga is a neighborhood in the North Philadelphia section of the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. 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.
Glenwood is a neighborhood in North Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located in the vicinity of North Philadelphia Station to West York Street.
Fitzwatertown is an unincorporated community located in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. The community is in Upper Dublin Township, 2.13 miles (3.43 km) south of Jarrettown, 2.5 miles (4.0 km) west of Abington, 1.1 miles south of Dreshertown, 1 mile (1.6 km) northeast of Oreland and approximately 12.3 miles (19.8 km) north of Philadelphia.
Dickinson Square West is a neighborhood in South Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States bordered by neighborhoods Queen Village to the north, Whitman to the south, Pennsport to the east and Passyunk Square and East Passyunk Crossing to the west. The neighborhood was previously referred to as "Dickinson Narrows", but was officially reestablished as "Dickinson Square West" in 2013 by the Registered Community Organization, Dickinson Square West Civic Association, located within its boundaries. In October, 2018, The Dickinson Square West Civic Association passed an amendment to expand the southern boundary from Mifflin Street to Snyder Ave
Girard Avenue is a major commercial and residential street in Philadelphia. For most of its length it runs east–west, but at Frankford Avenue it makes a 135-degree turn north. Parts of the road are signed as U.S. Route 13 and U.S. Route 30.
North Philadelphia West is a neighborhood that is located in the western central part of the North Philadelphia section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, east of the Schuylkill River.
Rowlandville was a North Philadelphia neighborhood along the Tacony Creek near present-day Wyoming Avenue. Most of the former neighborhood has been absorbed into present-day Juniata Park and Feltonville.