Arch Street is a major east-west street in

Center City Philadelphia Center City includes the central business district and central neighborhoods of Philadelphia. It comprises the area that made up the City of Philadelphia prior to the Act of Consolidation, 1854, which extended the city borders to be coterminous wi ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

History

The street was called Mulberry Street in

William Penn William Penn ( – ) was an English writer and religious thinker belonging to the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, a North American colony of England. He was an early advocate of democracy a ...

's original city grid, but it was renamed Arch in 1854. Other parts of the street were once called Holme and Tioga streets. In the 1950s and 1960s, Arch from 6th to 11th Streets was known as "

Radio Row Radio Row is a nickname for an urban street or district specializing in the sale of radio and electronic equipment and parts. Radio Rows arose in many cities with the 1920s rise of broadcasting and declined after the middle of the 20th century ...

", after its electronic-goods stores.

Present

Arch Street presently runs from the

Delaware River The Delaware River is a major river in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. From the meeting of its branches in Hancock (village), New York, Hancock, New York, the river flows for along the borders of N ...

one way westbound through Old City, where landmarks include the

Arch Street Friends Meeting House __NOTOC__ The Arch Street Friends Meeting House, at 320 Arch Street at the corner of 4th Street in the Old City neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is a Meeting House of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). Built to reflect Friend ...

, the

Betsy Ross House The Betsy Ross House is a landmark in Philadelphia purported to be the site where the seamstress and flag-maker Betsy Ross (1752-1836) lived when she is said to have sewed the first American Flag. The origins of the Betsy Ross myth trace back to ...

, Girard Fountain Park, the U.S. Mint, and

Christ Church Burial Ground Christ Church Burial Ground in Philadelphia is an important early-American cemetery. It is the final resting place of Benjamin Franklin and his wife, Deborah. Four other signers of the Declaration of Independence are buried here, Benjamin Rush, ...

. It crosses Independence Mall at 5th and 6th Streets, and traverses Philadelphia's

Chinatown (Philadelphia) Philadelphia Chinatown () is a predominantly Asian American neighborhood in Center City, Philadelphia, Center City, Philadelphia. The Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation (PCDC, ) supports the area. The neighborhood stretches from Vine ...

neighborhood. The tourist areas around

Logan Square Logan Square may refer to: * Logan Square, Chicago, a neighborhood on the north side of the city * Logan Circle (Philadelphia) or Logan Square, a park in Philadelphia **Logan Square, Philadelphia Logan Square is a neighborhood in Philadelphia. Bou ...

and the museum district are just north of Arch Street, which ends just east of the

Schuylkill River The Schuylkill River ( , ) is a river running northwest to southeast in eastern Pennsylvania. The river was improved by navigations into the Schuylkill Canal, and several of its tributaries drain major parts of Pennsylvania's Coal Region. It f ...

at 23rd Street. West of the river, there is a block of Arch Street between 30th Street Station and

Cira Centre The Cira Centre is a 29- story, office high-rise in the University City section of Philadelphia, directly connected to Amtrak's 30th Street Station. Developed by Brandywine Realty Trust and designed by César Pelli, it was built in 2004-05 on a ...

. Arch Street also runs from 49th Street to 63rd Street, but one way eastbound.

Notes

{{Commons category, Arch Street (Philadelphia) Streets in Philadelphia History of Philadelphia