For Kelly - South Philly Books

Philadelphia, as laid out in the 1680s, extended from the Delaware River to the Schuylkill River and from Vine Street to South Street, an area known today as Center City.

As its population grew, the settled areas expanded westward from the Delaware River beyond early important landmarks such as Christ Church, the Pennsylvania State House, and Pennsylvania Hospital. By the mid-19th century, commercial, religious, and cultural institutions arose along Broad Street, and exclusive residential neighborhoods developed even farther west in areas previously undeveloped or used as industrial sites. Bustling shopping districts anchored by stores such as Wanamaker's Grand Depot and Strawbridge and Clothier ran for blocks along Chestnut and Market Streets. Center City Philadelphia in the 19th Century highlights the buildings, people, and activities of this area from the 1840s until the end of the century.

Early on, Darby was known as the "Gateway to the South," welcoming travelers of the new world and providing food and lodging at its hotels and taverns. As the Minquas Indian trail, now Main Street, changed from mud to logs to cobblestone to blacktop, the place called Darby became the industrial, financial, political, and transportation center of Delaware County. John Blunston's 1682 William Penn Grant settlement had its first school in 1683, established the second oldest library in the United States by 1743, and still has its Bunting Friendship Freedom House dating to 1699, which represents Darby's part in the Underground Railroad.

Southwark's deep history is tied to its relationship to the waterfront and the multitude of immigrant communities that settled its streets.

The area along the banks of the Delaware River originally known as Philadelphia's Southwark District encompasses the present-day neighborhoods of Queen Village, Pennsport, and Dickinson Square West. The Washington Avenue Immigration Station, Southwark's counterpart to Ellis Island, was a testament to the waves of immigrants reaching America's shores in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Many of the immigrants who stayed in Philadelphia found inexpensive housing in Southwark and employment along the waterfront. Today, the neighborhoods of old Southwark continue to embrace diversity. Many of the area's historic houses still stand alongside newly built homes. While the construction of high-volume roadways cut off the neighborhoods from the waterfront, new efforts are reconnecting Southwark to the river through improved access points and attractive waterfront recreation areas.

In the 18th century, Society Hill was home to wealthy merchants and many members of the federal government. In Old City, artisans and workmen lived and worked in small row houses like those on Elfrerth's Alley. As Philadelphia developed, it abandoned its Colonial center. Almost forgotten by 1900, Society Hill had become home to poor immigrants and its once gracious houses had become run-down tenements, shops, and warehouses. Yet, at the same time, Society Hill remained Philadelphia's banking and insurance center. Beginning in the 1960s, under the direction of city planner Edmund Bacon and the National Park Service, this neglected neighborhood was restored. Society Hill and Old City documents how these two neighborhoods looked in the early 1900s. The book's carefully researched narrative and vintage images tell the story of these historic neighborhoods.

From forest and field to thriving neighborhood, explore the Italian influence in building, markets and maybe even a pizza pie, all in South Philly's Little Italy.

What is now referred to as Little Italy was priginally called Irishtown when the first Italian moved to the area near Catherine Street around 1798, mostly forest and field in the middle of colonial Pennsylvania. By 1852, an Italian church had been established for the community, and from the advent of mass migration beginning in 1876 grew into Philadelphia's Little Italy. Many of the early families - Baldi, Pinto, and Fiorella - established businesses in the area that continue today. Other beautiful buildings still left standing are remnants of the once thriving banking industry in this little neighborhood. As time progressed, the market expanded beyond its local neighbors, and Italians throughout Philadelphia developed their own Little Italy communities to the north, west, and farther south of the original boundaries.