Grays Ferry, also known as Gray's Ferry, is a
neighborhood
A neighbourhood (British English, Irish English, Australian English and Canadian English) or neighborhood (American English; see spelling differences) is a geographically localised community within a larger city, town, suburb or rural area, ...
in
South Philadelphia
South Philadelphia, nicknamed South Philly, is the section of Philadelphia bounded by South Street to the north, the Delaware River to the east and south and the Schuylkill River to the west.[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 fl ...]
on the west, Vare Avenue on the south, and Grays Ferry Avenue on the north. The section of this neighborhood west of 34th Street is also known as Forgotten Bottom.
Grays Ferry shares borders with
Southwest Center City
Southwest Center City (SWCC), also known as Graduate Hospital, is a neighborhood in South Philadelphia bordering Center City Philadelphia. The neighborhood is bordered on the north by South Street, on the south by Washington Avenue, on the west b ...
to the North,
Point Breeze to the East, and
Girard Estate to the South. Gray’s Ferry is across from where
Mill Creek debouch
In hydrology, a debouch (or debouche) is a place where runoff from a small, confined space discharges into a larger, broader body of water. The word is derived from the French verb ''déboucher'' (), which means "to unblock, to clear". The term ...
es at about 43rd street. Historically, Grays Ferry was one of the largest enclaves of
Irish American
, image = Irish ancestry in the USA 2018; Where Irish eyes are Smiling.png
, image_caption = Irish Americans, % of population by state
, caption = Notable Irish Americans
, population =
36,115,472 (10.9%) alone ...
s in the city, and while there are still many Irish left, it is now home to a significant
African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
population.
History
The area developed near an important crossing of the Schuylkill River. In the 18th century, Gray's Ferry was the southernmost of three ferries that crossed the Schuylkill River to Philadelphia. The neighborhood's namesake ferry originally belonged to a Benjamin Chambers in the 17th century. By 1747
George Gray had taken over the ferry, and established the nearby
Gray's Inn and Gray's Garden, which were popular in the 1790s.
The river is now spanned by the Gray's Ferry Bridge
Gray's Ferry Bridge (more recently, Grays Ferry Bridge) has been the formal or informal name of several floating bridges and four permanent ones that have carried highway and rail traffic over the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia. The bridge today ...
and several rail bridges.
Before the Act of Consolidation, 1854
The Act of Consolidation, more formally known as the act of February 2, 1854 (P.L. 21, No. 16), is legislation of the Pennsylvania General Assembly that created the consolidated City and County of Philadelphia, expanding the city's territory t ...
, this neighborhood was part of Moyamensing Township. Moyamensing was chartered by the Dutch governor Alexander d'Hinoyossa
Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history.
Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...
, and in 1684, 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 ...
confirmed the title.
This neighborhood was once the site of the Schuylkill Arsenal
The Philadelphia Quartermaster Depot, now known as the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, was founded as the Schuylkill Arsenal in 1799.
History
The Schuylkill Arsenal was built in 1800 to function as a quartermaster and provide the U.S. mil ...
.
The James Alcorn School
Universal Alcorn Charter Elementary School is a charter school located in the Grays Ferry neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is located in the historic James Alcorn School building. The building was designed by Irwin T. Catharine and ...
, Charles Y. Audenried Junior High School
Charles Y. Audenried Junior High School was a historic school building located in the Grays Ferry neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
History and features
Designed by Irwin T. Catharine and built in 1930-1931, it was a three-story, fiftee ...
, Grays Road Recreation Center
Grays Road Recreation Center is a historic recreation center located in the Grays Ferry neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was designed by John T. Windrim and built in 1926–1927. It is a -story, five-bay by nine-bay, red-brick buil ...
, James McCann Foundation
James is a common English language surname and given name:
*James (name), the typically masculine first name James
* James (surname), various people with the last name James
James or James City may also refer to:
People
* King James (disambiguat ...
, University Avenue Bridge
The University Avenue Bridge is a double-leaf bascule bridge crossing the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The four-lane bridge links University Avenue in West Philadelphia with South 34th Street in the Grays Ferry section of South ...
, and Anthony Wayne School are listed on the National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
.
Demographics
* Black, 56%; White, 39%; Other, 5%.
* More than 30% of the residents are under 18.
* Currently the neighborhood, which represents less than 1% of the city’s population, houses more than 10% of the city’s Section 8 residents.
Tasker Homes and Greater Grays Ferry Estates
The Tasker Homes (also known as the Tasker Housing Project) were located at 29th and Morris Streets and visible from the Schuylkill Expressway
The Schuylkill Expressway , locally known as "the Schuylkill", is a Controlled-access highway, freeway through southern Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Montgomery County and the city of Philadelphia in Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, Philade ...
. Originally, the housing project
Public housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is usually owned by a government authorities, government authority, either central or local. Although the common goal of public housing is to provide affordable housing, the d ...
had 1,100 units and followed the city's general model of high-density, low-income housing.
During Mayor John Street's administration, the Philadelphia Housing Authority
The Philadelphia Housing Authority (PHA) is a municipal authority providing Public housing services in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
It is the fourth-largest housing authority in the United States and is the largest landlord in Pennsylvania. PHA ho ...
declared certain higher density housing as blighted, demolishing it and replacing with lower density, townhome-style public housing. In 2004, the Tasker Homes were demolished and replaced with the Greater Grays Ferry Estates.[City of Philadelphia: Neighborhood Transformation Initiative](_blank)
/ref> The new townhomes have increased tensions between working-class residents and occupants of Section 8 housing within the neighborhood. The reasons most often cited are memories of the problems with Tasker Homes.
Racial tension
Over the years, the neighborhood has seen numerous instances of racial violence. The Irish Catholic
Irish Catholics are an ethnoreligious group native to Ireland whose members are both Catholic and Irish. They have a large diaspora, which includes over 36 million American citizens and over 14 million British citizens (a quarter of the British ...
s living in the neighborhood's modest row homes clashed with African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
s living in the demolished Tasker Homes and newly built Greater Grays Ferry Estates. There have been riots and beatings and, sometimes, killings. Tensions peaked in 1997 when Nation of Islam
The Nation of Islam (NOI) is a religious and political organization founded in the United States by Wallace Fard Muhammad in 1930.
A black nationalist organization, the NOI focuses its attention on the African diaspora, especially on African ...
leader Louis Farrakhan
Louis Farrakhan (; born Louis Eugene Walcott, May 11, 1933) is an American religious leader, black supremacist, anti-white and antisemitic conspiracy theorist, and former singer who heads the Nation of Islam (NOI). Prior to joining the NOI, h ...
threatened to join marchers to protest racial violence, but spoke at a church rally in a compromise negotiated by Mayor Ed Rendell
Edward Gene Rendell (; born January 5, 1944) is an American lawyer, prosecutor, politician, and author. He served as the 45th Governor of Pennsylvania from 2003 to 2011, as chair of the national Democratic Party, and as the 96th Mayor of Philade ...
.[The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...]
">
As the housing market has boomed in Philadelphia, the neighborhood has begun to see some resurgence. Where the former housing projects intersect with the neighborhood, a group of neighbors have started turning an empty lot into a new park at 30th and Oakford, and the area is beginning to see a trickle of young professionals overflowing from the nearby Graduate Hospital area.
a sketch from 1789.