Angora is a neighborhood in the
Southwest
The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A '' compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west— ...
section of
Philadelphia
Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
,
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...
, United States. Although its boundaries are not precise, it is roughly bounded by the
Cobbs Creek neighborhood to the north,
Cobbs Creek to the west,
Kingsessing to the south and east, and
Cedar Park to the east. The
Angora Commuter Rail Station on the
Media/Wawa Line
The Media/Wawa Line is a SEPTA Regional Rail service that runs from Center City, Philadelphia, Center City Philadelphia west to Wawa Station, Wawa in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, Delaware County. It uses the West Chester Branch, which connects ...
, two bus lines (routes 46 and "G"), and a trolley line (
SEPTA Route 34) all intersect around Baltimore Avenue and 58th Street, which is unofficially the nexus of the neighborhood.
On May 12, 2005, a commercial block in Angora was certified as
blighted by the
City Planning Commission,
and a redevelopment plan was proposed later that year.
However, Angora Terrace and other portions of the neighborhood are well-kept.
History
The neighborhood was founded by Robert and George Callaghan in 1863, who named it for
Ankara
Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and List of national capitals by area, the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( ...
, the city in Turkey. The landscape was sparsely populated for decades, and a surrounding woodland provided a bucolic environment seemingly separate from the city of which it was part. Development began in earnest between 1900 and 1920.
In its founding, it was the site of the Callaghan
textile mill
Textile manufacturing or textile engineering is a major industry. It is largely based on the conversion of fibre into yarn, then yarn into fabric. These are then dyed or printed, fabricated into cloth which is then converted into useful good ...
; later, in the early 20th century, a mill that produced yarn and a factory that produced glass were erected. This industry was accompanied by the relatively limited development of residential areas within the neighborhood, mainly restricted to the 5800 block of Baltimore Avenue (between 1918 and 1920) and to an area that once was a grove of trees, known as Sherwood Forest. A nearby attraction for residents (mainly children and older residents) was Kingsessing Park, in the
Kingsessing neighborhood, in which a recreation center was constructed in 1918.
Of note was the Sherwood Cricket Club of Angora. A watercolor of it can be found at th
PhillyH2O website Cricket was an important sport at that time, with the
Belmont Cricket Club, in West Philadelphia, being one of the most prominent venues in the country. There are many references to the Sherwood Cricket Club of Angora on cricketarchive.com.
References
External links
*
{{Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania
Neighborhoods in Philadelphia
Southwest Philadelphia