The area now known as West Philadelphia had been inhabited by the Leni Lenape Indians when British and Welsh settlers arrived during the 1600's. A real estate assessment taken in 1693 by Thomas Pascall, Jr. listed 15 landowners in the area. Prominent among these were John Rhoads (in the Haddington area), the Welshman William Powell (south of Spring Garden Street) and the Quaker preacher William Bedford (Overbrook).
The estates of major landowners were subdivided and developed during the 1800's and the early 1900's. The vast majority of the land was developed for residential use while the area near the Schuylkill River, adjacent to Center City, became a mixed-use zone dominated by distribution and transportation functions. The University of Pennsylvania moved its campus from Center City to West Philadelphia in 1875, and the Drexel Institute opened at 32nd & Chestnut Streets in 1892. "University City" wasn't widely recognized as a distinct section of West Philadelphia until the 1960's when institutional expansion and neighborhood reinvestment gained significant momentum.
Powelton and parts of Spruce Hill are the oldest remaining large-scale tracts of housing in West Philadelphia. They were built in the early to mid 1800's as fashionable suburbs outside of the "old city." The predominant building type in these neighborhoods is the three-story Victorian semi-detached house, but detached houses and mid-rise apartment buildings are not uncommon.
The working-class housing of Mantua, Belmont and Parkside was developed in the second half of the 19th century. Two and three-story brick row homes are the most common house types in this area.
Most of the large twin homes of Cedar Park, where Queen Anne is the dominant architectural style, were built in the very late 1800's, and the large detached houses in Overbrook Farms and Wynnefield were also developed around the turn of the century. Overbrook Farms' houses, many of which are of the Renaissance Revival style, are quite spacious-often containing as much as 4,500 square feet of living space.
The majority of West Philadelphia's housing was developed between 1910 and 1940 following the construction of the Market-Frankford El through the area. This was the period of West Philadelphia's rapid urbanization, when the neighborhoods of Cobbs Creek, Haddington, Carroll Park, Overbrook and the remainder of Wynnefield were built up with predominantly row housing designed for middle class families. West Philadelphia was substantially developed by the time of World War II.
The City Line and University City areas experienced pronounced changes following the Second World War. Near City and Haverford Avenues, the Overbrook Park neighborhood was developed with brick row homes and with stores fronting on Haverford Avenue. Three miles to the northeast, the Wynnefield Heights neighborhood was also subdivided for row housing, starting in 1958. Here, low-rise single family and duplex homes near Ford Road and Conshohocken Avenue were built on land that had previously been occupied by the Woodside Amusement Park. High-rise apartment buildings were gradually added to the neighborhood in later years.
West Philadelphia's rapid urbanization occurred between 1910 and 1940, soon after the construction of the Market-Frankford El.
During the past forty years, University City has evolved from a mixed use, transportation-oriented area to the institutional complex that currently exists. Rail transportation is still an important feature of University City, but many of the rail lines are not readily visible to pedestrians and motorists. This is due in large part to the placement of the elevated train underneath Market Street east of 45th Street (completed in 1960), and the construction of the subway tunnels for the Woodland Avenue and Lancaster Avenue trolleys. Changes to the street pattern (the removal of portions of Locust Street, Woodland Avenue, Lancaster Avenue, 35th, 37th and 39th Streets) and the widespread use of the federally-funded urban renewal program facilitated the expansion of the campuses of the University of Pennsylvania and Drexel University, and enabled the University City Science Center's campus to be created in 1964.
A major event in West Philadelphia's history was the Centennial Exposition of 1876 - the nation's first world's fair. The site of the Exposition was in West Fairmount Park abutting Parkside Avenue. The theme was industry and technology, and more than 30,000 exhibitors took part in the Exposition. Of the 167 buildings that were built to house the exhibits, Memorial Hall is the only major structure that remains today. The Pennsylvania Railroad built a large passenger depot at 32nd and Market Streets to serve the nearly three million persons who visited the fairgrounds. The present-day 30th Street Station was built about 50 years later.
Transportation trends have had a profound influence on the development of West Philadelphia as a whole. The earliest development was focused along the Lancaster Turnpike and the roads that are now named Haverford, Baltimore and Woodland Avenues. These long-distance roads facilitated the movement of food and supplies from the Schuylkill River wharfs and bridges to cities located far to the west. In the mid 1800's, the new railroads lessened the importance of the major highways. Railroads also spelled a quick end to West Philadelphia's canal trade. A portion of the Philadelphia - Norristown Canal was constructed in 1833-34 on the west side of the Schuylkill River. It crossed Market Street under a drawbridge and was used for a brief time to haul coal. The canal was bought out by the Reading Railroad.
The railroads were the major factor behind the development of the Overbrook Farms and Wynnefield neighborhoods. Overbrook Farms was first developed by the Pennsylvania Railroad. In about 1890, trolley routes were established in conjunction with residential development in neighborhoods such as Cedar Park and Powelton. Finally, by 1960 the Schuylkill Expressway had created an entirely new form of access which contributed greatly to the growth of University City and the "City Line" area.
African-Americans have been the predominant racial group in many West Philadelphia neighborhoods since the 1960's. The 45-year period between 1925 and 1970 was the time when most of the growth in West Philadelphia's African-American population occurred. The number of African-Americans living in West Philadelphia was 30,498 in 1925, and reached a peak of 184,865 in 1970. The stories of four prominent African-Americans who lived in West Philadelphia are summarized below.
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