Dock Creek was a stream draining much of what is now the eastern half of

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 ...

. It was a tributary of the Delaware River. By 1820, the entire creek had been covered and converted to a sewer. The present-day Dock Street follows the lower course of the stream.

Course

Called Cooconocon by the native Lenape people, Dock Creek was near the center of

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 initial settlement in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

. The area around the mouth of the creek was

marshy A marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous rather than woody plant species.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p Marshes can often be found at ...

, and early Philadelphians referred to it as "The Swamp". The creek's source was near present-day Eleventh Street between Arch and Race. It then flowed through a pond around present-day Fifth and

Market Market is a term used to describe concepts such as: *Market (economics), system in which parties engage in transactions according to supply and demand *Market economy *Marketplace, a physical marketplace or public market Geography *Märket, an ...

streets, after which it flowed south and east. At about Fourth and Chestnut, it was joined by another small stream, Munday's Run. Dock Creek then ran southeast, where it was joined by the Little Dock Creek, and through the swamp to the Delaware River.

Colonial history

Penn thought the mouth of the Dock a good site to dock ships, giving rise to the name. He declared that the area should be a harbor forever, but later inhabitants did not follow his plan. By 1704, a drawbridge was constructed near the mouth of the creek, the first bridge in the

colony of Pennsylvania The Province of Pennsylvania, also known as the Pennsylvania Colony, was a British North American colony founded by William Penn after receiving a land grant from Charles II of England in 1681. The name Pennsylvania ("Penn's Woods") refers to Wi ...

. More bridges followed: at Second Street in 1713, Third Street in 1740, and Walnut Street in 1767. In 1763, the creek's use as an open sewer led residents to describe it as "a Receptacle for the Carcasses of dead Dogs, and other Carrion, and Filth of various kinds, which laying exposed to the Sun and Air putrify and become extremely offensive and injurious to the Health of the Inhabitants." Increased development in the area led settlers to cover the creek above Second Street by 1769. By 1784, it was covered all the way to its outlet at the Delaware.

Conversion to sewer

The mouth of the Dock had become known as "a foul place, especially when the tide was out." The stream became completely buried and served as a sewer for the neighborhood. By the 1840s, the sewer had become inadequate and frequently overflowed into the streets above. Investigators recommended that Philadelphia City Council build a culvert under the streets to carry the stream, which they did. By the 1870s, the

Dock Street Market The Dock Street Market was Philadelphia's central wholesale produce market from 1870 until its closure in 1959 and relocation to the Food Distribution Center in South Philadelphia. The Dock Street Market was located on Dock Street in Society Hill. ...

was the city's primary's wholesale produce distribution center until its closure in 1959. During

urban renewal Urban renewal (also called urban regeneration in the United Kingdom and urban redevelopment in the United States) is a program of land redevelopment often used to address urban decay in cities. Urban renewal involves the clearing out of blighte ...

in the 1960s, new sewer lines were constructed in the area, and archaeologists investigated the former site of the city's main waterfront. An art project in 2008 through Philadelphia's FringeArts Festival investigated the former course of Dock Creek between Third and Fifth streets, in what is now

Independence National Historical Park Independence National Historical Park is a federally protected historic district in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that preserves several sites associated with the American Revolution and the nation's founding history. Administered by the National P ...

Notes

References

Books * * Articles * * Newspaper * Websites * * {{Society Hill Tributaries of the Delaware River Former rivers Subterranean rivers of the United States