Northeast Philadelphia, nicknamed Northeast Philly, the Great Northeast, and known colloquially as simply "the Northeast", is a section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. According to the 2000 census, Northeast Philadelphia has a population of between 300,000 and 450,000, depending on how the area is defined. The Northeast is known as being home to a large Irish Catholic and Irish American working class population, but is also home to a diverse community of Polish, German, Jewish, Russian, African American, Brazilian, Puerto Rican, Dominican, Guatemalan, Ukrainian, Indian, Chinese, and Vietnamese neighborhoods.
Geography Because of the large size of the Northeast, the Philadelphia City Planning Commission divides it into two regions called Lower Northeast and Far Northeast, the names being derived from their distance from Center City. The term Near Northeast is not widely used colloquially; Lower Northeast is more commonly used, but the term Far Northeast is in widespread use. The demarcation line between the two sections is typically given as Pennypack Creek.
Northeast Philadelphia is bounded by the Delaware River on the east, Bucks County on the north, and Montgomery County on the west. The southern limit is given as Frankford/Tacony Creek or Adams Avenue.See The Philadelphia Inquirer, Nov. 17, 2004
Lower Northeast
Burholme Castor Garden Crescentville Fox Chase Frankford Holmesburg Juniata Lawncrest Lawndale Lexington Park Mayfair Northwood Oxford Circle Rhawnhurst Ryers Tacony Wissinoming Bridesburg
Far Northeast
Academy Gardens Ashton-Woodenbridge Bustleton Byberry Crestmont Farms Holme Circle Krewstown Millbrook Modena Park Morrell Park Normandy Parkwood Pennypack Pine Valley Somerton Torresdale Upper Holmesburg Winchester Park
History
Early European settlement The first European settlement in the Northeast was by Swedish farmers, who emigrated there when the area was a part of the New Sweden colony. They were followed by English Quakers, including Thomas Holme, who came to begin the settlement of William Penn's Pennsylvania colony in the late 1680s. In the years to follow, Northeast Philadelphia developed as a scattering of small towns and farms that were a part of Philadelphia County, but not the City of Philadelphia. Before consolidation with the City, what is now referred to as the Northeast consisted of the townships of Byberry, Delaware, Lower Dublin, Moreland, and Oxford, (largely rural areas); and the boroughs of Bridesburg, Frankford, and White Hall, which were more urbanized.
Growth in industry and farming While most of the land in what is now the Northeast was dedicated to farming, the presence of many creeks, along with proximity to Philadelphia proper, made the towns of the Northeast suitable for industrial development. The Northeast's first factory was the Rowland Shovel Works on the Pennypack Creek. In 1802, it produced the first shovel made in the United States., The Philadelphia Inquirer, Nov. 17, 2004 More mills and factories followed along the Pennypack and Frankford Creeks, and traces of the mill races and dams remain to this day. The most famous of these factories was the Disston Saw Works in Tacony, founded by English industrialist Henry Disston, whose saw blades were world-renowned.A Brief History of Tacony, Louis M. Iatarola
Consolidation and population increase By 1854, Philadelphia County was incorporated into the city. In spite of the political incorporation, the Northeast retained its old development patterns for a time, and the dense populations and urban style of housing that marked older, more traditional sections of the city had not yet found their way there. In the first three decades of the 20th century, rapid industrialization led to the growth of industrial sections of the northeast and the neighborhoods surrounding them. These demographic changes, along with the building of the Market-Frankford Line train and new arterial highways, such as the Roosevelt Boulevard, brought new middle class populations to the lower half of the Northeast. Vast tracts of row homes were built in that section of the Northeast for new arrivals in the 1920s and 1930s, typically with small, but valued front lawns, which impart a "garden suburb" quality to much of the Northeast, reducing the sense of physical density felt elsewhere in the city. Much of this development occurred east of Roosevelt Boulevard (Mayfair, Torresdale) and in Oxford Circle.
Post-war growth
After World War II, newer arrivals, armed with the mortgage benefits of the GI Bill, brought the baby boom to the Northeast. This newer population was heavily Jewish or ethnic Catholic (including Irish, Italian, Polish, and German Americans) and completed the development of the region, filling in undeveloped areas of Rhawnhurst and Bell's Corner and developing the previously rural Far Northeast. As older sections of the city lost populations of young families, the Northeast's school-age population swelled, requiring rapid expansion of schools, libraries, cinemas, shopping, transportation, restaurants and other needed amenities.
The period from 1945 through the 1970s was marked in many American cities by urban decline in older, more industrial areas. This was especially true in Philadelphia, in which much of the city's North, West and South sections lost population, factories, jobs and commerce. During the postwar period, the Northeast experienced a heavy influx of growing middle-class families, and had become an almost exclusively white community. This aroused controversy in the 1960s and 1970s, as passions for and against school busing were focused on the Northeast, to address racial imbalances, especially in the city's public schools. That racial imbalance was ultimately addressed by the upward mobility enjoyed by many of the graduates of the Northeast's excellent public and parochial school systems, who made their way out of the Northeast and into the suburbs from the 1980s onward, making room for new arrivals from the city's Latino, African American and Asian populations. The Philadelphia Inquirer, Nov. 17, 2004
A separate identity
In the 1980s, the Northeast developed along a separate path from much of the rest of the city. In addition to the racial differences mentioned above, the political climate in the Northeast was balanced evenly between Republicans and Democrats, while the rest of the city almost uniformly voted for the latter party.See, e.g., ; or As a result, many Northeasters became more and more discontented with the high city taxes and a perceived imbalance in the services they received for them.See, e.g., The Philadelphia Inquirer, Nov. 17, 2004 This discontent grew to give rise to a secessionist movement, led by State Senator Frank "Hank" Salvatore, among others. Salvatore introduced a bill in the State Senate to allow the Northeast to become a separate county called Liberty County, but the bill failed to progress beyond this stage. As the Philadelphia economy grew stronger, and most discontented people fled to the suburbs, and a new, more popular mayor, Ed Rendell, was elected, the call for secession waned, and the section settled back into life as a part of the city.
Today, the Northeast enjoys greater racial balance and relative stability. The region is uniformly developed, but like many American urban communities, it has witnessed the loss of manufacturing, factory conversions to marginal retail "outlets," and growing vacancies along shopping avenues, especially in the southern part of the region. During the housing boom of the first decade of the 21st century, property tax advantages granted to new construction within the city limits led to a growth in residential units and an escalation of existing home prices in the Northeast.
Demographics According to the 2010 census, 432,073 people live in the Northeast section of Philadelphia. (Map)
By 2018 immigration and ethnic diversity had increased in the region.
Racial demographics Non-Hispanic White: 252,022 (58.3%) Non-Hispanic Black: 77,681 (18.0%) Hispanic or Latino of any race: 60,020 (13.9%) Asian: 31,658 (7.3%) Mixed or Other: 10,692 (2.5%) Native American: 7,777 (1.8%)
Irish Americans
The spur of the Irish Famine drew many Irish immigrants to the city.
Today, the Irish in Philadelphia make up 14.2% of the city's population, the largest ethnicity in the city. Although there are Irish in almost every area of the city, they still are predominantly located within Northeast Philadelphia, especially in neighborhoods such as Kensington, Fishtown, and Mayfair.
Political representation and government While Philadelphia as a whole is heavily Democratic, there is consistent competition between Republicans and Democrats in some parts of the Northeast. Republicans currently hold one State House seat, and a portion of another, in the Northeast and one non at-large Philadelphia City Council seat. As of 2019, no Republican represents any part of the Northeast in the United States Congress.See Pennsylvania's congressional delegations
U.S. House of Representatives All of Northeast Philadelphia is in the 2nd congressional district of Pennsylvania, and is currently represented by Brendan Boyle.
Pennsylvania legislature Senate In the Pennsylvania State Senate, most of the Northeast is in the 5th district, represented by Republican Joe Picozzi. Smaller parts are represented by Democrats Sharif Street (the 3rd district) and Tina Tartaglione (the 2nd district).This National Atlas map shows the district boundaries.
House of Representatives The Northeast is split among several State House districts, including those of Democrats Ed Neilson, Kevin Boyle, Pat Gallagher, Jared Solomon, Jason Dawkins, Anthony Bellmon, and Joseph Hohenstein, and Republican Martina White.This Pennsylvania Department of State map shows the state House district boundaries.
Philadelphia City Council In the Philadelphia City Council, the Far Northeast is represented by the 10th district councilman and Council Minority (Republican) Leader, Brian O'Neill. The Lower Northeast is divided among five other council districts, all represented by Democrats, including the 1st, represented by Mark Squilla, the 5th, represented by Council President Darrell Clarke, the 6th, represented by Michael Driscoll, the 7th, represented by Maria Quiñones-Sanchez, and the 9th, represented by Anthony Phillips.This map shows the district boundaries.
Public safety The Philadelphia Police Department patrols four districts within its Northeast Division, including the 7th and 8th districts in the Far Northeast, and the 2nd and 15th in the Near Northeast.
Economy and attractions
Northeast Philadelphia is home to Philadelphia Mills, formerly known as Franklin Mills, a shopping mall that was built on what was once Liberty Bell Park Racetrack, and is one of the most visited attractions in the state. The lower sections of the Northeast still boast pleasant shopping avenues lined by stores and restaurants, such as Castor Avenue. Major shopping centers along Cottman Avenue include, the Cottman-Bustleton Center, and the Roosevelt Mall which opened in 1964 at Cottman Avenue and the Roosevelt Boulevard.
Also present in the Northeast are two nationally recognized medical establishments, Friends Hospital and Fox Chase Cancer Center.
Prior to its disestablishment, Ransome Airlines had its headquarters on the grounds of Northeast Philadelphia Airport."World Airline Directory." Flight International. March 30, 1985. 111." Retrieved on July 23, 2009.
Education The first school was founded in the Northeast in 1723 by Silas Crispin, Thomas Holme's son-in-law. The Northeast is home to Fox Chase Farm, an educational facility that is the only working farm left in the Philadelphia city limits.Friends of Fox Chase Farm website
Colleges and universities