Wissahickon | |
---|---|
Coordinates: 40°01′05″N75°11′24″W / 40.018°N 75.19°W | |
Country | United States |
State | Pennsylvania |
County | Philadelphia County |
City | Philadelphia |
Zipcode | 19128 |
Area code(s) | 215, 267 and 445 |
Wissahickon is a neighborhood in the section of Lower Northwest Philadelphia in the state of Pennsylvania, United States. Wissahickon is located adjacent to the neighborhoods of Roxborough and Manayunk, and it is bounded by the Wissahickon Valley Park, Ridge Avenue, Hermit Street, and Henry Avenue. The name of the neighborhood is derived from the Lenni Lenape word wisameckham, for "catfish creek", a reference to the fish that were once plentiful in the Wissahickon Creek.
The village of Wissahickon was founded by officials of the Pencoyd Iron Works in the late nineteenth century. [1] Beginning in the 1880s, growing numbers of mill owners and wealthy business owners from neighboring Manayunk sought elegant homes on ample lots; they set their eyes on land previously owned by prominent Philadelphia families – including the Camac, Dobson, Salaignac, and Wetherill families – along the Wissahickon Creek. Grand single-detached and semi-detached homes with ample side and rear yards were built, creating "a unique park side Victorian wonderland." [2] [3] The neighborhood was considered a highly desirable place to live as it had proximity to the Wissahickon Valley, tree-lined streets, new sewers and water services, and grand homes in high Victorian styling. [2]
Taking into consideration the four Census Block Groups that mostly comprise the area (BG0209001, BG0209002, BG0209003, and BG0211001), as of the 2010 Census, the Wissahickon neighborhood had roughly 3,163 residents, 1,520 households, and 659 families. The racial makeup of Wissahickon was roughly 87.48% White/Caucasian, 6.32% Black or African-American, 2.84% Asian, 2.75% two or more races, .41% some other race, and .18% were American Indian/Alaska Native. Native or Latino people of any race were roughly 2.87% of the population. [39]
Of the roughly 1,520 households, 15% had children under the age of 18 living with them. [39]
Roughly 44.10% of the residents were between 18 and 34 years old, 33.10% between 35 and 64 years old, 12.64% are under 18 years old, and 10.14% are over 65 years old. [39]
The School District of Philadelphia operates public schools. Cook-Wissahickon School is a K-8 grade school located in the area. [40] The school was built in 1968 at the corner of East Salaignac and Righter Streets to replace the aging Cook Public School and the Wissahickon School. [41] The former Wissahickon School, built in 1887, was located at the north east corner of (then) Ridge Avenue and Kalos Street, now the site of LaNoche Park. [42]
Residents zoned to Cook-Wissahickon are zoned to Roxborough High School. [43]
Free Library of Philadelphia operates its Roxborough Branch, serving Wissahickon, at 6245 Ridge Avenue at Hermitage Street. [44]
A prior library, the Wissahickon Branch, located at Manayunk Avenue and Osborn Street, opened in 1909 and was built on land donated by the Pencoyd Iron Works. [45] It was the ninth Andrew Carnegie-funded Free Library branch designed by the architectural firm of Whitfield and King and featured a main reading room, a children's room which also served as a lecture room seating 100, and a basement consisting of a boiler room, coal bin, staff room, a small magazine room, and two toilets. [46] The Wissahickon Branch served the Wissahickon neighborhood until it closed in 1969. Sometime soon after, the building burned down. [47]
Along the perimeter of Wissahickon is one of the longest and oldest thoroughfares in Philadelphia, Ridge Avenue. [53]
One SEPTA Regional Rail line connects the neighborhood to Center City: the Manayunk/Norristown Line stops at the Wissahickon station. The station was once home to a building designed by the renowned architect Frank Furness; however, the building was later demolished. [54] Improvements were made to the existing station, and during Summer 2016, local artist and Moore College of Art & Design faculty member, David Guinn painted a mural on a retaining wall running along the outbound platform of the station, coordinated by the Wissahickon Interested Citizen's Association, Mural Arts Program, and Cook-Wissahickon School. [55] [56] [57] [58]
The neighborhood is also served by bus routes 9, 27, and 65. The Wissahickon Transportation Center offers connecting service to routes 1, 9, 27, 35, 38, 61, 62, 65, 124, 125, & R. Plans for renovating the Wissahickon Transportation Center were released in 2018 by the Philadelphia City Planning Commission. [59] Called the Wissahickon Gateway Plan, the plan's proposals to expand the transfer station, improve Ridge Avenue, extend the Schuylkill River Trail, and introduce new development (including shops, offices, and apartments) were met with mixed reviews. [60] [61] [62] [63]
The local civic association is called Wissahickon Interested Citizen's Association (WICA). The association was instrumental in preparing and implementing a Neighborhood Conversation Overlay (NCO) to mitigate the impact of new development in the neighborhood as well as maintain the walkability and character of it. [64] [65] [66] [67] [68] [69] Public meetings are held on the second Wednesday of every month. Another area civic association, Wissahickon Neighbors Civic Association (WNCA), serves the community northwest of Ridge Avenue. Public meetings are held on the third Thursday of every month at Pilgrim Church.[ citation needed ]
Germantown is an area in Northwest Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded by Palatine, Quaker, and Mennonite families in 1683 as an independent borough, it was absorbed into Philadelphia in 1854. The area, which is about six miles northwest from the city center, now consists of two neighborhoods: 'Germantown' and 'East Germantown'.
Chestnut Hill is a neighborhood in the Northwest Philadelphia section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It is known for the high incomes of its residents and high real estate values, as well as its private schools.
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.
Bala Cynwyd is a community and census-designated place in Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located on the Philadelphia Main Line in Southeastern Pennsylvania and borders the western edge of Philadelphia at U.S. Route 1. The present-day community was originally two separate towns, Bala and Cynwyd, but was united as a singular community largely because the U.S. Post Office, the Bala Cynwyd branch, served both towns using ZIP Code 19004. The combining of the communities gives a total population of 9,285 as of the 2020 census. The community was long known as hyphenated Bala-Cynwyd. Bala and Cynwyd are currently served by separate stations on SEPTA's Cynwyd Line of Regional Rail.
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.
Mount Airy is a neighborhood of Northwest Philadelphia in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania.
East Falls is a neighborhood in Lower Northwest, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It lies on the east bank of the "Falls of the Schuylkill," cataracts submerged in 1822 by the Schuylkill Canal and Fairmount Water Works projects. East Falls sits next to the Germantown, Roxborough, Allegheny West, and the Nicetown-Tioga neighborhoods. Wissahickon Valley Park separates it from Manayunk, Philadelphia.
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.
Andorra is a neighborhood in Northwest Philadelphia, which is a section of the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. 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.
The Walnut Lane Bridge is a concrete arch bridge located in Northwest Philadelphia that connects the Germantown and Roxborough neighborhoods across the Wissahickon Creek in Fairmount Park. While drivers may cross the bridge too quickly to notice, the view from underneath the bridge has inspired many artists and writers, such as Christopher Morley. The design was copied from Pont Adolphe in Luxembourg.
Druim Moir, also known as the Houston Estate Historic District, is a historic district in the Chestnut Hill neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Robert Rhodes McGoodwin was an American architect and educator, best known for his suburban houses in the Chestnut Hill and Mount Airy sections of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He taught at University of Pennsylvania from 1910 to 1924, and served as a trustee of its School of Fine Arts from 1925 to 1959. McGoodwin was active in the Philadelphia Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, serving as its president in 1943.
The Academies at Roxborough High School is a public high school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, operated by the School District of Philadelphia and servicing the Roxborough, Manayunk, Chestnut Hill, Wissahickon, East Falls, Mt. Airy, and Germantown sections of Philadelphia.
St. John the Baptist Church is a parish of the Roman Catholic Church in the Manayunk section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Established in 1831, it is the tenth oldest parish in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. The current Neo Gothic church was dedicated on April 1, 1894 and is the spiritual home for Roman Catholics living in the Philadelphia neighborhoods of Manayunk, Roxborough, and Wissahickon.
Route 35 is a bus route operated by the SEPTA in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.
Ridge Pike is a major historic road in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania that opened in 1706 that originally connected Wissahickon Creek to Perkiomen Creek. Inside Philadelphia, it is called Ridge Avenue. Going westward, it traverses many eastern Pennsylvania neighborhoods in Montgomery County including Conshohocken and beyond, connecting with Germantown Pike near Collegeville and continuing to Pottstown. In Montgomery County, Ridge Pike is called Main Street in the Norristown area and again in Collegeville and Trappe, and is called High Street in the Pottstown area.
St. Timothy's Church, Roxborough is a parish of the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania in the Roxborough neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It is part of the Wissahickon Deanery of the Diocese of Pennsylvania. In 1962, St. Timothy's reported membership of 1,144 and weekly attendance of 849, while its 2022 reported attendance was 32 persons.
St. David's Episcopal Church is a parish of the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania in the Manayunk neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is part of the Wissahickon Deanery of the Diocese of Pennsylvania. In 1960, the parish reported 621 members; it reported 23 members in 2022. English-born mill-workers were heavily represented in its early population, while mill owners were successive wardens, vestrymen, and treasurers.
Leverington Cemetery is a historic non-denominational cemetery established in 1745 in the Roxborough neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.
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