This is a list of the sources of some of the place names in the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania:
This is a list of the sources of some of the place names in the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania:
| Street Name | Source |
|---|---|
| Allegheny Avenue | Named for the Allegheny River and Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. |
| Arch Street | Formerly known as Mulberry Street (one of William Penn's streets named for trees, this one was named for the Mulberry tree). Became known as Arch Street because Front Street formed an arch or bridge when it passed over Mulberry Street, with the latter going down to the riverside to form a public landing up until the 1720s. The name nevertheless stuck, long after most people had forgotten the arch itself. |
| Aramingo Avenue | Named for Aramingo Borough whose name was a corruption of the Lenni Lenapi stream name Tumanaraming, meaning "Wolf Walk." [1] |
| Baltimore Avenue | Originally Baltimore Pike , named for the destination city of Baltimore, Maryland |
| Blair Street | Named for John Blair. [1] |
| Broad Street | As with "Broad Street" in various other towns and cities, the street was named for its breadth and laid out and developed as a central thoroughfare. |
| Cecil B. Moore Avenue | Named in honor of the late Philadelphia civil rights attorney Cecil B. Moore, who led the fight to integrate Girard College and was the president of the local NAACP and a member of Philadelphia's City Council. The street formerly called Columbia Avenue. |
| Callowhill Street | Named for Hannah Callowhill Penn, William Penn's second wife and acting proprietor of the Colony of Pennsylvania from 1712 to 1726. |
| Cheltenham Avenue | Follows the border between Cheltenham Township, Montgomery County and Philadelphia County. |
| Cherry Street | One of William Penn's streets named for trees, this one was named for the cherry tree. |
| Chestnut Street | One of William Penn's streets named for trees, this one was named for the chestnut tree. |
| Chew Avenue | Named after Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Province of Pennsylvania, Benjamin Chew |
| City Avenue | The street is also U.S. 1, and its name refers to its role as both the Philadelphia city line and the Montgomery County line. |
| Columbus Boulevard | Formerly Delaware Avenue because it ran along the Delaware River. Renamed in honor of explorer Christopher Columbus upon the 500th anniversary of his famous 1492 voyage, as requested by various Italian Americans of South Philadelphia. |
| Dauphin Street | Named for Dauphin County, Pennsylvania |
| D'Harnoncourt Drive | Formerly Art Museum Drive, renamed in 2010 for Anne d'Harnoncourt |
| Dickinson Street | Named for John Dickinson, Continental Congressman and one of the signers of the Constitution. |
| Elfreth's Alley | Named after Jeremiah Elfreth, an 18th-century blacksmith and property owner. It is one of the oldest continuously inhabited residential streets in the United States of America, dating to 1702. |
| Federal Street | The road between two Federal properties, the Philadelphia Navy Yard and the Schuylkill Arsenal [2] |
| Benjamin Franklin Parkway | Named for Benjamin Franklin. |
| Front Street | Like "Front Street" in various other towns and cities, it was named after a riverfront, in this case the Delaware riverfront, which for several centuries was the economic and social heart of the city. |
| Germantown Avenue | It was the road to Germantown when Germantown was still a separate town, several miles outside Philadelphia. |
| Girard Avenue, Girard Point, and Girard Point Bridge | Named after financier Stephen Girard. |
| Independence Mall East, Independence Mall West | Named afer Independence Mall, the district whose heart is Independence Hall. |
| Kelly Drive | Formerly East River Drive because it runs along the east bank of the Schuylkill River, it was renamed in honor of the Olympic athlete John B. Kelly Jr. [3] |
| John F. Kennedy Boulevard | Built in the 1950s as part of the large redevelopment of the Pennsylvania Railroad "Chinese Wall" and the former Broad Street Station that created Penn Center; it was for several years called Pennsylvania Boulevard before being renamed for John F. Kennedy after his assassination. It serves as part of Pennsylvania Route 3. |
| Lancaster Avenue | Originally Lancaster Pike, the street is named for the destination city of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. |
| Locust Street | One of William Penn's streets named for trees, this one was named after the locust tree. |
| Market Street | As with "Market Street" in many other towns and cities, it was for several centuries the main market site because of the addition of the High Street Market in 1745. Market Street was previously known as High Street and was one of William Penn's original names for the city. |
| Manayunk | The neighborhood's name comes from the word manaiung, meaning "place where we go to drink" in Lenape. [4] |
| Martin Luther King Jr. Drive [5] | Formerly called West River Drive because it runs along the west bank of the Schuylkill River, the street was renamed in honor of the slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. |
| Mount Pleasant Drive | Named after the historic mansion Mount Pleasant, which was built by a privateer in what was then the countryside outside of the city. [6] It is now an off-premises gallery of the Philadelphia Museum of Art in Fairmount Park. [7] |
| Moyamensing Avenue | Named after a Lenni Lenape word meaning "pigeon droppings." [8] |
| Old York Road, York Road, King's Highway | The old road to New York City was named, as were that city and its province, for James, Duke of York (later King James II and VII.) |
| Passyunk Avenue | Named after the Lenape word meaning "in the valley" or "in the valleys." [9] |
| Philmont Ave | Named after the county line between Philadelphia and Montgomery Counties, which it runs along for part of its route (Phil + Mont). |
| Pine Street | One of William Penn's streets named after trees, this one named after the pine tree. |
| Race Street | Originally called Sassafras Street, it was until the mid-19th century was often used as a horse race track, the era's equivalent of today's street racing. Eventually, Race Street became the street's official name. |
| Reed Street | Named after Joseph Reed, a statesmen during the American Revolution. |
| Ridge Avenue | Named after the ridge of high ground between the Wissahickon and Schuylkill valleys, which the avenue follows. |
| Rising Sun Avenue | Named after the Rising Sun Tavern, which was an important roadhouse in colonial times. |
| Roosevelt Boulevard/Roosevelt Expressway | Named after President Theodore Roosevelt. |
| Sansom Street | Named by the developer William Sansom afterhimself (See Jewelers' Row) |
| Shackamaxon Street | Named after the historic village in which the Shackamaxon Treaty was signed between William Penn and the village leaders of the Lenape tribe. |
| South Street | Formerly known as Cedar Street (originally one of William Penn's streets named after trees, in this case cedar trees). It was the original southern border of the city of Philadelphia, before the 1854 Act of Consolidation. |
| Susquehanna Avenue | Named after the Susquehanna River and Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania. |
| Spruce Street | One of William Penn's streets named after trees, this one named after the spruce tree. |
| Walnut Street | One of William Penn's streets named after trees, this one named for after walnut tree. |
| Vine Street | One of William Penn's streets named after trees, this one was named after vines. |
| Place Name | Source |
|---|---|
| Clark Park | Built on land donated by Clarence Howard Clark, originally known as "Clarence H. Clark Park". [10] |
| Delaware River | Named after the Delaware Bay, which was named after Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr, Governor of the Jamestown Colony. |
| Fern Rock | Named after the ancestral estate of Elisha Kent Kane, a renowned Arctic explorer and naval surgeon from Philadelphia. |
| Fox Chase | Named after the "Fox Chase Inn," which catered to affluent fox hunters.[ citation needed ] |
| Franklin Square | Named after the Philadelphia statesman Benjamin Franklin. |
| Independence Mall | Named after Independence Hall. |
| Lemon Hill | Named for the numerous lemon trees in Robert Morris's greenhouse.[ citation needed ] |
| Logan Circle | Named Logan Square after the Philadelphia statesman James Logan. [11] |
| Manayunk | From the Lenape name for the Schuylkill River, "Manaiung;" their word for "river" literally translates as "place to drink." [12] [13] |
| Marconi Plaza | In honor of the Nobel Prize Laureate Guglielmo Marconi, the inventor of radio. |
| Mount Airy | Named after the estate of William Allen, a mayor of Philadelphia . |
| Nicetown | Named after immigrants to the area whose surname has appeared with many spellings over the centuries, including Neues, Neus, Neiss, Nice, and Nyce. |
| Pastorius Park | Named in honor of Francis Pastorius, a leader of early German immigrants to the area.[ citation needed ] |
| Queen Village | Named for Queen Christina of Sweden, who promoted the European settlement of the area. [14] |
| Rittenhouse Square | Named for David Rittenhouse. [15] |
| RittenhouseTown | Named after William Rittenhouse, a papermaker. |
| Roxborough | The area was likely named for Roxburghshire, Scotland, the original home of Andrew Robeson, one of the early settlers of what is now Roxborough. |
| Society Hill | Named after the Free Society of Traders, which had its offices in the area. |
| Southwark | Named after a district in London. [16] |
| Torresdale | Originally Torrisdale, named by Charles Macalester after his Scotland home. [17] |
| Washington Square | Named after US President George Washington. |
| Wicaco | From the Lenni Lenapi name for the area meaning "Pleasant Place." [16] |
| Wissahickon Creek | From the Lenape for "catfish creek" or "stream of yellowish color." [13] |
Roxborough is a neighborhood in Northwest Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It is bordered to the southwest, along the Schuylkill River, by the neighborhood of Manayunk, along the northeast by the Wissahickon Creek section of Fairmount Park, and to the southeast by the neighborhood of East Falls. Beyond Roxborough to the northwest is Montgomery County. Roxborough's ZIP Code is 19128. Most of Roxborough is in Philadelphia's 21st Ward.
The Schuylkill River is a river in eastern Pennsylvania. It flows for 135 miles (217 km) from Pottsville southeast to Philadelphia, the nation's sixth-largest city, where it joins the Delaware River as one of its largest tributaries.
Fairmount Park is the largest municipal park in Philadelphia and the historic name for a group of parks located throughout the city. Fairmount Park consists of two park sections named East Park and West Park, divided by the Schuylkill River, with the two sections together totalling 2,052 acres (830 ha). Management of Fairmount Park and the entire citywide park system is overseen by Philadelphia Parks & Recreation, a city department created in 2010 from the merger of the Fairmount Park Commission and the Department of Recreation.
The Philadelphia Main Line, known simply as the Main Line, is an informally delineated historical and social region of suburban Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Lying along the former Pennsylvania Railroad's once prestigious Main Line, it runs northwest from Center City Philadelphia parallel to Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike, also known as U.S. Route 30.
Manayunk is a neighborhood in the section of Lower Northwest Philadelphia in the state of Pennsylvania. Located adjacent to the neighborhoods of Roxborough and Wissahickon and also on the banks of the Schuylkill River, Manayunk contains the first canal begun in the United States.
The Schuylkill Expressway, locally known as "the Schuylkill", is a freeway through southern Montgomery County and Philadelphia. It is the easternmost segment of Interstate 76 (I-76) in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. It extends from the Valley Forge interchange of the Pennsylvania Turnpike in King of Prussia, paralleling its namesake Schuylkill River for most of the route, southeast to the Walt Whitman Bridge over the Delaware River in South Philadelphia. It serves as the primary corridor into Philadelphia from points west. Maintenance and planning for most of the highway are administered through Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) District 6, with the Delaware River Port Authority (DRPA) maintaining the approach to the Walt Whitman Bridge.
Northwest Philadelphia is a section of the city of Philadelphia. The official boundary is Stenton Avenue to the north, the Schuylkill River to the southwest, Northwestern Avenue to the northwest, Roosevelt Boulevard to the south, and Wister Street and Stenton Avenue to the east. Conventionally, the area east of Wissahickon Creek, which comprises Germantown, Mount Airy, Chestnut Hill, and Cedarbrook, is termed the 'Upper Northwest', and the area west of the creek, which comprises Roxborough, Wissahickon, East Falls, and Manayunk, is termed the 'Lower Northwest'. The area of Philadelphia west of the Schuylkill River is known as West Philadelphia. The Philadelphia Police Department patrols two districts located within Northwest Philadelphia. The two patrol districts serving Northwest Philadelphia are the 5th and 14th districts.
Manayunk station is a station located along the SEPTA Manayunk/Norristown rail line. It is located at Cresson and Carson Streets in the Manayunk neighborhood of northwest Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In FY 2013, Manayunk station had a weekday average of 654 boardings and 563 alightings.
Ivy Ridge station is a SEPTA Regional Rail station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Located at Umbria Street and Parker Avenue in Northwest Philadelphia, it serves the Manayunk/Norristown Line. The initial station was built in a minimalist design similar to that of Elm Street, Norristown. The current station has a 204-space parking lot. In FY 2013, Ivy Ridge station had a weekday average of 602 boardings and 582 alightings.
Grays Ferry, also known as Gray's Ferry, is a neighborhood in South Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, bounded (roughly) by 25th Street on the east, the Schuylkill River on the west, Vare Avenue on the south, and Grays Ferry Avenue on the north. The section of this neighborhood west of 34th Street is also known as Forgotten Bottom.
The Schuylkill River Trail is a multi-use trail along the banks of the Schuylkill River in southeastern Pennsylvania. Partially complete as of 2018, the trail is ultimately planned to run about 140 miles (230 km) from the river's headwaters in Schuylkill County to Fort Mifflin in Philadelphia.
The Schuylkill Branch was a rail line owned and operated by the former Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) in Pennsylvania. The line ran from the Philadelphia to Harrisburg Main Line at 52nd Street in Philadelphia north via Norristown, Reading, and Pottsville to Delano Junction, about 2.5 mi (4.0 km) northeast of Delano. From Delano Junction, the PRR had trackage rights over the Lehigh Valley Railroad's Hazleton Branch and Tomhicken Branch to Tomhicken, where the PRR's Catawissa Branch began.
Mount Pleasant is a historic mansion in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, atop cliffs overlooking the Schuylkill River. It was built about 1761–62 in what was then the countryside outside the city by John Macpherson and his wife Margaret. Macpherson was a privateer, or perhaps a pirate, who had had "an arm twice shot off" according to John Adams. He named the house "Clunie" after the ancient seat of his family's clan in Scotland.
The Manayunk Bridge is an S-shaped former railroad bridge over the Schuylkill River, Schuylkill Canal and Schuylkill Expressway, that connects Bala Cynwyd, Montgomery County and the Manayunk neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Closed to rail traffic in 1986, it is now an extension of the Cynwyd Heritage Trail and connects to the Schuylkill River Trail.
The Cynwyd Line is a SEPTA Regional Rail line from Center City Philadelphia to Cynwyd in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. Originally known as the Ivy Ridge Line, service was truncated on May 17, 1986, at its current terminus at Cynwyd.
The Manayunk/Norristown Line is a commuter rail service in Southeastern Pennsylvania between Center City Philadelphia and Norristown, and one of the 13 lines in SEPTA's Regional Rail network. It has the second highest operating ratio (19.9%) on the SEPTA Regional Rail network.
Shawmont is a former train station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is located on Nixon Street in the Roxborough section of Lower Northwest Philadelphia. Built by the Philadelphia, Germantown and Norristown Railroad, it later became part of the Reading Railroad and ultimately SEPTA Regional Rail's R6 Norristown Line. SEPTA made the station a whistle stop and closed its waiting room in 1991. SEPTA later closed the station in 1996. In 2018, $1 million was set aside for repairs and rehabilitation.
John Macpherson was a Scottish-born privateer. After emigrating to colonial America, he built Mount Pleasant in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1762.
It was built in 1761-62 by Captain John Macpherson, a privateer who had had "an arm twice shot off" according to John Adams. The pirate called the house "Clunie" after the seat of his family's ancient clan in Scotland.
Scottish ship captain John Macpherson (1726–1792) and his first wife, Margaret, built their grand country estate on this site—high atop cliffs overlooking the Schuylkill River—between 1762 and 1765. They employed as their builder-architect Thomas Nevell (1721–1797), an apprentice of Edmund Woolley, the builder of Independence Hall.
