University City is the easternmost neighborhood of West Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its boundaries, as defined by the non-profit University City District organization and the City of Philadelphia, are: the Schuylkill River to the east; Spring Garden Street, Powelton Avenue, and Market Street to the north; 52nd Street to the west; and Woodland Avenue, University Avenue, and Civic Center Boulevard to the south. Within these boundaries are the local neighborhoods of Cedar Park, Garden Court, Spruce Hill, Squirrel Hill, Powelton Village, Walnut Hill, and Woodland Terrace. The boundaries also encompass several historic districts (view map) and the ZIP codes 19104, 19139, and 19143.
The University of Pennsylvania had been the dominant institution in the area long before the name University City was coined in a mid-1950s urban-renewal effort. Today, Drexel University and University of the Sciences in Philadelphia also call University City home.
The eastern area of University City is home to the Penn and Drexel campuses, several medical institutions, independent centers of scientific research, 30th Street Station, and the Cira Centre. The western area, with its Victorian and early 20th-century housing stock, is primarily residential and is home to an ethnically and economically diverse population.
Names of the region
Blockley is one of the earliest names applied to this region. In 1677, William Warner purchased 1,500 acres (6.1 km 2 ) from the local Indian tribe and named the area. Blockley Township had a poor reputation in the 19th century. " It was an ideal hideout for shadowy characters and evil-doers who crossed the river in skiffs after a thieving or smuggling job south of the city. As late as 1850 it was considered hazardous to be abroad alone in this area. " The Blockley Almshouse, later known as Philadelphia General Hospital, was located here. Philadelphia was founded five years after Blockley, but its influence was quickly felt. People soon started calling the Township of Blockley "West Philadelphia". Later, parts of Blockley were carved out to form the District of West Philadelphia.
In 1735, Andrew Hamilton, a "Philadelphia Lawyer", purchased 300 acres (1.2 km 2 ) of land within Blockley Township. This area came to be known as Hamilton Village and The Woodlands, a sprawling botanical garden and mansion were built here. The gardens is now the Woodlands Cemetery. Much of the rest of Hamilton Village is now covered by the 40th St. retail corridor.
A small section on the northern side of this area was once known as Greenville. Situated near Lancaster Ave, Powelton Ave, and Market St., Greenville served as a waypoint for travelers and cattle drivers. Many taverns and inns accommodated the travelers. Later, the area expanded in all directions with many German immigrants and offered much more than simple taverns. By the mid-20th century, the Greenville area had changed again to a neighborhood that was colloquially referred to as the Black Bottom, signifying the neighborhood's racial and economic status. Much of this neighborhood was destroyed as part of a gentrification plan in the 1960s.
The late 19th and early 20th centuries were a time of enormous growth in the area. The arrival of electrified streetcars in the 1890s kickstarted development to the west of 43rd Street, and bridges and a tunnel in the first decade of the 20th century allowed people to easily commute into Center City. This led to rapid development within the borders of University City and far beyond. It was around this time that the "local" neighborhood names like Spruce Hill and Cedar Park were established.
In the mid-1950s, the name University City was coined as a marketing tool by two realtors (former Penn graduates) in an attempt to attract Penn faculty back to the neighborhoods near Penn. The boundaries were defined as extending from the " Schuylkill River to 52nd Street, and from Haverford Avenue to the Media-line railroad tracks south of Kingsessing Avenue — though over the years many have viewed it as a smaller domain ". This has led to some community tension; some saw it as an attempt to secede from West Philadelphia.
Town and gown relations
University City has a history of strained town and gown relations, particularly with Penn, the city's largest private employer and the second-largest employer in Pennsylvania. Since the 1960s, Penn has led a series of gentrification and redevelopment programs that have changed the character of the area. Some locals call this "Penntrification" or "McPenntrification", names meant to suggest that the efforts benefit only those with a relationship to Penn. Some, including local anarchists, believe Penn's actions divide the community.
Opened in 2001, the Sadie Alexander public elementary school, which Penn helped to build and subsidizes, is closed to students outside its "catchment". The Penn Mortgage program is available only for homes purchased within Penn's definition of the boundaries of University City. The university is also an active participant in branding the area as "University City", with its logo showing up next to the name on signs and bridges (not including street signs directing to University City, which are erected by the city, state, and federal governments).
For decades, 40th Street was generally considered the "invisible campus boundary" between the residential neighborhoods to the west and the Penn campus to the east. In recent years, the "Penn bubble" is said to have expanded further west.
Major redevelopment projects
Science Center
As part of the Housing Act of 1949, Congress established the "Slum Clearance and Community Development and Redevelopment" program, commissioning federal funds to "assist local communities in eliminating their slums and blighted areas and in providing the maximum opportunity for the redevelopment of project areas by private enterprise." A few years prior, in 1945, the Redevelopment Authority of the City of Philadelphia (RDA) was formed with the power to acquire and redevelop land through condemnation proceedings. This power to take land reached University City when The West Philadelphia Corporation (WPC) was formed in 1959 by a group of local institutions including Penn. By 1965, the WPC had developed a massive plan to demolish homes and redevelop the land as a center of private scientific research. Within four years, the University City Science Center had been established and most of the buildings on Market St. between 34th St. and 40th St. had been demolished.
Superblock
Over the course of 1968 to 1970 and with the assistance of the local redevelopment authorities, Penn acquired, cleared and redeveloped the 4 block area between 38th, 40th, Spruce, and Walnut streets. This area became known as "Superblock" and its primary features are three high-rise apartment-style dormitories. The key purpose of creating these high-rises was to accommodate 3,500 more students at the University. The whole superblock project and especially the high-rise design have been widely criticized, but this view is not held by everyone.
Civic Center complex
Beginning in 1991, Penn publicly expressed offical interest in acquiring the 19.2 acres to the southeast of its campus occupied by the Philadelphia Civic Center complex. After the opening of the Pennsylvania Convention Center in 1992, the Civic Center was mostly unused. In 1998, a City Council resolution was put forth to turn over much of this property to Penn and CHOP. The initial plans were not fully developed, but did not call for the demolition of Convention Hall, the location of several historic events. By 2005, plans had been expanded and the whole site, including Convention Hall, was slated for demolition to make way for a new clinical care facility attached to the hospital. Many local preservationists were opposed to this. Some were mollified by an exhaustive study commissioned by Penn to find alternate uses for the buildings and demolition continued. The last remaining building in the complex, Pennsylvania Hall, was demolished on March 3, 2007. Penn's Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine was officially opened on October 2, 2008.
Postal lands
In 2007, Penn bought 24 acres (97,000 m 2 ) between its campus and the Schuylkill river, an area formerly occupied by the United States Postal Service known as the Postal Lands. (This 1994 map shows the area before the GE building was refurbished into the Left Bank and the Cira Centre was built.) According to plans in the works since 2005, Penn officials intend to build several facilities and to connect its campus with the riverfront and Center City. New buildings will include office buildings, parking garages, hotel and conference spaces and more green space on campus. A walkway will extend from Locust Walk and conn
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