Southwest Philadelphia
Four miles from City Hall southwest of the University of Pennsylvania, is a group of old neighborhoods Philadelphia city planners have designated “Southwest Schuylkill”. Located in a small triangular wedge bounded by Baltimore Avenue, Woodlands Cemetery, the Pennsylvania Railroad tracks, and 52nd street, are parts of several distinct communities – Cedar Park, Spruce Hill, and Kingsessing – as well as parts of several administrative and political subdivisions. These old neighborhoods surround Clark Park, the area’s only park and an important topographical landmark in the community’s history.
As an 18th Century agricultural region and milltown, Southwest Schuylkill bore slight resemblance to the urban community of today. Mill Creek flowed along what is now 43rd street into the Schuylkill River near the southwestern end of Woodland Cemetery. Flour and timber mills used the creek’s power until the early 19th century when a dam was built at 44th street and Woodland Avenue creating a small lake. In order to make the land north of Baltimore Avenue suitable for new housing, the dam was demolished in the 1840s, and the creek was diverted underground in brick culverts. The dry lake then became a dumping ground. Occasionally in the 19th century, the creek would burst its culverted bonds, sucking carriages, trees, and even houses into its muddy turbulence. At the end of the century, as land developments proceeded in the area, the City Parks Association purchased the dump, officially creating Clark Park.
Clark Park today, an integral part of Southwest Philadelphia:
Recently, the University of the Sciences of Philadelphiahas been expanding within this area. Campus Expansion Program: the university doubled the size of the campus in 1998 when it acquired an adjacent, vacant industrial site. (This site was formerly the home of the original Breyers Ice Cream factory which closed its Philadelphia operation in the early 1990s.) An Athletic and Recreation Center (ARC) opened in August 2003 and the McNeil Science and Technology Center (McNeil STC) was officially dedicated September 2006. Additional building projects are being planned for the years to come.
