Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania

Drexel Hill is a neighborhood and census-designated place (CDP) located in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania. The population was 29,181 at the 2020 census, up from 28,043 at the 2010 census, and accounting for over a third of Upper Darby's population.

Geography

Drexel Hill is located in the western part of Upper Darby Township at (39.949962, -75.301841). The neighborhood is 8 miles from Center City, Philadelphia and is bordered to the north by Haverford Township, to the south by the borough of Clifton Heights and the Westbrook Park neighborhood of Upper Darby, and to the southwest by Springfield Township. Darby Creek forms the southwestern/southern border of the CDP. U.S. Route 1 (Township Line Road) runs through the northwest corner of the CDP and forms most of its northern border with Haverford Township.

The CDP has a total area of , all land.

Historic sites

The Lower Swedish Cabin on Creek Road alongside Darby Creek is possibly the oldest log house in North America. The cabin is believed to have been built by early Swedish settlers who were part of the New Sweden colony. The cabin was most likely built between 1638 and 1655, but the exact year is not known. Log cabin architecture was a major contribution of the colonial Swedes. European settlers from other countries copied this style of housing, and the log cabin became popular all across America.

Collen Brook Farm is a historic home and associated buildings located at the end of a lane off Mansion Road at Marvine Avenue in Drexel Hill. The original house and barn were built about 1710 by Abraham Lewis. It was most recently acquired by Upper Darby Township in 1989. It is open to the public on Sundays from May through October.

Thornfield, the estate of famed abolitionist and Quaker Thomas Garrett, lies on Garrett Road (named for his family, who were among the earliest settlers of that part of the township) and Maple Avenue in Drexel Hill. Garrett resided here before 1822 and would later work as a station master in Wilmington, Delaware, the last stop on the Underground Railroad. In 1956, the Thornfield estate was purchased by Caroline and Walter Isard, active Quakers who moved to the area when Walter founded the Regional Science department at the University of Pennsylvania. Caroline went on to found themarried couples living together, 9.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.9% were non-families. 32.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.46 and the average family size was 3.19.

In the CDP, the population was distributed with 24.3% under the age of 18, 7.5% from 18 to 24, 32.4% from 25 to 44, 20.3% from 45 to 64, and 15.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 90.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.4 males.

The median income for a household in the CDP was $48,765, and the median income for a family was $65,862 . Males had a median income of $42,841 versus $31,904 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $25,471. About 3.5% of families and 4.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 4.6% of those under age 18 and 6.0% of those age 65 or over.

Transportation

SEPTA

SEPTA operates two trolley lines through Drexel Hill: Route 101- a few stops in Drexel Hill are Irvington Rd, Drexel Hill Junction, School Lane, Aronimink, Drexelbrook, Drexel Park, Garrettford, Huey Avenue, School Lane, Anderson Avenue, Drexeline, Drexel Manor, Marshall Road, and Creek Road, stations to Media and Route 102 Sharon Hill, both lines begin at the 69th Street Transportation Center. Several SEPTA bus routes also operate via Drexel Hill, including routes , , , and .

Major roads

The major roads running through Drexel Hill are Township Line Road (US 1), State Road, Burmont Road, Garrett Road, Lansdowne Avenue, Marshall Road, Drexel Avenue, Edmonds Avenue and Shadeland Avenue.

Education

Primary and secondary schools

The Upper Darby School District - Compare this to the full address of Upper Darby HS, Bonner & Prendergast HS, and Hillcrest Elementary School. operates the following public schools in the Drexel Hill neighborhood:
*Drexel Hill Middle School
*Aronimink Elementary School
*Garretford Elementary School
*Charles Kelly Elementary School
*Upper Darby Kindergarten Center
*Hillcrest Elementary School
*Upper Darby High School

;Parochial schools in Drexel Hill
*Saint Andrew the Apostle School
*Saint Bernadette's School
*Saint Dorothy's School
*Bonner & Prendergast Catholic High School has an Upper Darby postal address, but is outside of the CDP

;Non-parochial private schools
*Holy Child Academy

Emergency services

As an Upper Darby neighborhood, Drexel Hill is served by the Upper Darby Police Department, Crozer-Keystone Paramedics (based out of Delaware County Memorial Hospital), and the Upper Darby Township Fire Department, a combination paid/volunteer department which consists of five stations:
*Company 20 - Garrettford-Drexel Hill (which is the only full-time volunteer station), housing two pumpers (engines), one ladder truck, and one rescue truck.
*Company 26 - Highland Park, housing one squad, and one rescue truck.
*Company 36 - Cardington-Stonehurst, housing one pumper, one squirt, and one air/light unit.
*Company 37 - Upper Darby, housing one ladder truck, and one utility truck.
*Company 74 - Primos-Secane-Westbrook Park, housing one quint, one pumper (including a foam pumper) and one tower ladder truck.

Companies 26, 36, 37, and 74 are staffed from 7 am Monday until 7 am Saturday by career personnel from IAFF Local 2493. They are supplemented by volunteers during the weekdays and fully staffed by volunteers on weekends.

Notable people

Television personality Dick Clark lived from 1954 to 1956 at the Drexelbrook Apartment complex while hosting Barr's Diamond Theater and a radio show on WFIL, before he was hired to host ''American Bandstand''. Television personality Ed McMahon also lived at the Drexelbrook before teaming up with Johnny Carson on '' Do You Trust Your Wife?'', then ''The Tonight Show''.

Children's author Lloyd Alexander lived in Drexel Hill with his wife and several cats.

1970s folk/pop singer-songwriter Jim Croce grew up in the Bywood and Drexel Hill sections of Upper Darby. Croce graduated Upper Darby Sr. High in 1960, and attended Villanova University 1961–1965. He married Ingrid Jacobson of Wallingford. Her family is believed to have bought the house Dick Clark sold upon leaving for the west coast when ''Bandstand'' left WFIL in the early '60s. Croce was the first to be inducted on Upper Darby High School's "Wall of Fame" in April 1976.

Former United States Representative Pat Meehan of the Seventh Congressional District of Pennsylvania lives in Drexel Hill.

Alan Graham MacDiarmid ONZ (April 14, 1927 – February 7, 2007), one of three recipients of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2000, died in 2007 after falling in his Drexel Hill home. He is buried at Arlington Cemetery in Drexel Hill.

Nancy Meyers, producer and director of movies including '' The Parent Trap'' (1998), ''What Women Want'' (2000), '' Something's Gotta Give'' (2003), ''The Holiday'' (2006), '' It's Complicated'' (2009) and '' The Intern'' (2015) was raised in a Jewish household in the Drexel Hill area.

Drexel Hill resident Gregore J. Sambor is a former commissioner of the Philadelphia Police Department best known for his role in the 1985 bombing of MOVE, in which six adults and five children died after he told firefighters to stand down and "let the fire burn".

Further reading

Drexel Hill
at city-data.com

References

External links

Upper Darby Township

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Census-designated places in Delaware County, Pennsylvania
Census-designated places in Pennsylvania
Populated places on the Underground Railroad