Maps Don't Only Show You Where You're Going...

...they can also show you where you've been (I mean this in a historical sense). The past week was pretty calm in-terms of what I was doing at work. Amy Hillier had me do some work with a few historic maps. The work she had me doing was in conjunction with her Du Bois project. The task was simple; using the 1896 city atlas, list all the alleys and street names (which differ from the current map) within the Seventh Ward. Without going into a long description of her project, yes, listing street names is very relevant to her work. I don't have an example of the specific map I was using but if you go to Philadelphia GeoHistory's interactive map, and use the "1875 Philadelphia Atlas" you can get a good idea of my map.

A project which I thought would only take me a few hours actually went into a day and a half of work. I became fascinated by the details of the map. The atlas listed all the property owners for the homes and names of businesses. At some point between the printing of the 1896 atlas and the turn-of-the-century was the unification of the alleys in downtown. Most alleys had a different name on each block but out of the unification we have full streets such as Sansom, Delancey and Naudain. I was also able to see a number of institutions in the city such and mental institutions and orphanages. In fact, the Locust on the Park lofts used to be a worsted textile factory.

Historic maps are an amazing resource because they can provide a sense of context you can't find within a book. A historic map can give you enormous amounts of information which, because of the maps relative nature, can suggest trends within a given space. For example, a historic map could show a present-day Philadelphia how Fourth Street, just below South Street, was a thriving Jewish neighborhood. The map would provide an understanding of the number of historic synagogues which are still in use in the neighborhood.

Maps really can show us from where we've come.

This isn't the Art Museum....regardless of what your Realtor says

I know there has been a lot of grumbling about the wet and relatively cool weather we've been having the past few weeks. I guess April showers also happen in mid-June. In an odd way, I've found it somewhat refreshing. Summer in Philly can be hot, humid and stifling. I can already see when we're in the middle of a heatwave people will be wondering 'where is the rain?' What I love most about these cooler days is how enjoyable it is to just walk around my neighborhood. I have a great view of the Center City skyline so can you blame me?

But, in what neighborhood do I actually live? I say this in a rhetorical way because I know I live in the Spring Garden section of the city. Unfortunately, I'm starting to see my neighborhood lose its unique identity.

As the Philadelphia real estate market grows, and people are looking to move into the most desirable neighborhoods, the boundaries of neighborhoods seem to grow. I live on the 1700 block of Wallace Street which according to Google Maps places me over a mile from the Philadelphia Museum of Art, but when I look at condo listings for my block, I am somehow in the Art Museum neighborhood. I know neighborhood lines can be a tad blurry but one mile....really!?

(1700 Block of Wallace Street)

In part, this is a shorthand way of giving people a sense of where they're are. I doubt most people know where Spring Garden is but at this rate Broad & Wallace Streets will become part of the Art Museum as well. In my opinion, I would love to see this shorthand thrown out the window. I believe this type of shorthand does nothing more than to devalue the history of a neighborhood and conceal what makes each neighborhood unique.

Spring Garden is currently a neighborhood in the midst of a change. I don't know the longer history of the neighborhood but in more recent decades Spring Garden has been the home to a vibrant African-American and Puerto Rican community. The Puerto Rican community was so large that the neighborhood was nicknamed Little San Juan. The community isn't as large as it once was but it's still a presence. Throughout the summer you can hear the smashing of dominoes while Tito Puente plays in the background and older men sip their Malta. Also, weekly events are held at the Roberto Clemente Community Center, and adjoining ball-field at 18th and Wallace.

(Clemente Community Center and Field)

**Fun fact - the basketball court is where the opening theme song to Fresh Prince of Bel-Air was filmed...take that West Philly**

The 1800 block of Wallace has become the embodiment of how the neighborhood is changing. On the south side of the street, is the ball-field and community center. In the afternoons and evenings, there are pick-up basketball games, high-school football practice, people just hanging-out and even a make-shift dog run. On the north side is the crown-jewel of our community--The Spring Gardens. It's one square block of nature which can be a challenge to find in the city.

(The Spring Gardens)

These two square blocks exhibit the diversity of the neighborhood. Age and race do not keep the members of the community from using the spaces.

In no way am I trying to say my neighborhood is utopian. Spring Garden is in the midst of a major revitalization project. While millions of dollars have been spent to rehab the neighborhood, the downside is seeing the ways in which many of my neighbors live. Our local CDC offers GED and ESL courses as well as lessons in basic computer skills. We have great local restaurants which are across the street from Food Stamp and WIC approved corner stores. Spring Garden truly is a neighborhood where diversity exists.

(Spring Garden CDC, 17th & Wallace sts.)

(St. Stephens Green, 17th and Green sts.)

(Corner Store, 17th and Mt. Vernon sts.)

Living in Spring Garden means a lot to me and it provides me with a sense of place. I am proud of this neighborhood; the good and the not so good. Attaching the neighborhood label of Art Museum strips the community of pride, history and identity. Philadelphia is seen as a city of neighborhoods and this is mine. I say it loud and proud, "I live in Spring Garden...not the Art Museum."

Jane Jacobs was right, even in the rain

"Rittenhouse Square, the success, possesses a diverse rim and diverse neighborhood hinterland...This mixture of uses of buildings directly produces for the park a mixture of uses of buildings directly produces for the park a mixture of users who enter and leave the park at different times. They use the park at different times from one another because their daily schedules differ. The park thus possesses an intricate sequence of uses and users."

Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, p. 96

Thursday afternoon I was on my way from UPenn to HSP for a 2pm appointment. After stopping for lunch, I still had about 45 minutes to kill. I debated where I'd go on my bike especially since I was worried about the rain, so Rittenhouse Square seemed like the perfect place. I could engage in one of my favorite pastimes--people-watching. Even at 1:15, on an overcast Thursday afternoon, the square was bustling. Ben & Jerry's was giving free samples, UPenn Doctoral students were conducting a survey, the bike messengers were just hanging-out between deliveries, dog lovers were walking their four-legged friends, business-types were walking through on the way back from a power-lunch, couples were enjoying each others company and even the pigeons were making use of the park.

After about ten-minutes, I got thinking about how Jane Jacobs wrote about Rittenhouse Square in 1961. A lot of what she said still resonates almost fifty-years later. It's a challenge to find scholarly work which has that type of shelf-life. I read Death and Life for the second time this past semester but I was able to appreciate it much more. The first time I read it was as a junior in college and while my school was in the Philadelphia area, I didn't know much about Philadelphia history and planning. Since I've been living in the city for five-years and I've taken classes where I learned more about the Philadelphia's past, Jacobs made more sense. For me, this was significant when Jacobs compares the four Philadelphia squares and their success. I had an understanding of historical context which was previously absent.

In essence, Jacobs argued Rittenhouse Square was successful because the surrounding neighborhood was comprised of mixed-use properties (residential, retail and commercial). When the three other squares were compared, they were found to lack the same necessary mix for success. Four decades later, Rittenhouse is still thriving. The surrounding streets are a mix of high-end condos, fancy restaurants with outdoor seating for all those who want to be seen, mid- to high- shopping and even small hole-in-wall cafes.




Even the presence of the Doctoral students exemplified the mixed-use nature of the park. They believed Rittenhouse offered them enough of a cross-section of respondents where their results could be seen as random. And as a matter of fact, one of my favorite actors Neil Patrick Harris (he's just NPH to me) was filming a movie in the square today. Oh how Doogie Howser M.D. has grown-up. But I digress.














The city has worked hard in trying to improve the quality of the other three squares but none have thrived the way Rittenhouse has thrived. Each receives foot traffic during the day but it is usually limited to certain parts of the day. They don't possess the perpetual attraction of Rittenhouse. If the other squares were redeveloped in a manner which mirrored Rittenhouse, would they become clones of Rittenhouse? I don't really have an answer but I believe we should wonder what would happen.

I would say I am a believer in Jane Jacobs. I agree with her principles and ideas; people, especially those who have been empowered, make a city thrive. I think community was at the core of Jacobs' beliefs, it was never explicit in her writing about what made Rittenhouse successful. Mixed-use property has been a central factor but I think a community of concerned citizens who have the means and agency has been equally important. The park matters to the local citizens and we can't overlook the impact they've had on the parks continued success.

"Houston, we have lift off"

Please excuse the cheesy title for my first post but it was the first thing to pop into my head. Upon the urging of my advisor, Dr. Seth Bruggeman, I've created a blog which I'd use as a tool to chronicle and process what I'm doing this summer. What is it that I'm doing you might ask? Great question. As a student in the Public History program at Temple, an internship is required for completion of the degree so I am interning for Dr. Amy Hillier in the School of Design at the University of Pennsylvania. Throughout the course of the summer I will be working on a variety of different projects. I have two main projects for this summer.

The first project is in conjunction with the Historical Society of Pennsylvania (HSP). They are currently working on an amazing neighborhood history project, PhilaPlace. This project fuses together history, memory and place into a web-based project which also has a corresponding neighborhood tour. At this point the project is focusing on the Northern Liberties and South Philadelphia sections of the city. My charge has been to review the interviews HSP conducted and identify a few themes which can later be mapped. The first theme I identified from the interviews was movie theaters and given the fact that most of the interviewees are older Philadelphians, this will be a strong generational theme. I'm still working on identifying a few more themes. The second project will be further research into the proposed Crosstown Expressway which was to travel along the length of South Street. I'm not sure what I'll exactly be doing but when my partner returns from China, we'll get to work.

Watching the interviews was just incredible because it gave me the opportunity to take a glimpse into a different era in Philadelphia. I always find myself wondering what certain areas of the city used be like. Who lived there? What did they do? Do we still have any remnants this bygone time? As historians we have to think about 'change over time' (that always sounds like a math equation to me) and the interviews did just that. They allowed me to compare 'what is' to 'what was'. One Northern Liberties story stood out. A man who was raised in the neighborhood during the '50s and '60s talked about how a pig slaughtering factory would occasionally provide entertainment. Every once in a while, a pig would escape while being unloaded from trucks and the factory workers would have to chase the pig around the neighborhood. The slaughterhouse is no longer there, and for those of you who know Northern Liberties, chances are a $750,000 house has taken its place.

Eventually, those type of memories disappear. While a story such as that doesn't have the same weight and many of the other events in Philadelphia's history, it provides a texture which has made the city what it is today. Projects such as PhilaPlace are invaluable because it looks to catalog everyday stories which one could argue are just as significant as monumental events.

Future postings should be a bit more sophisticated but I wanted to give a bit of a rundown of the past two weeks. I think pictures will make it on the postings as well. I'm heading back to playing with Google Map.